By Enwonoabasi Elisha
It
takes more than a run from 'Barracks Road End' (Wellington Bassey Avenue end)
where Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly was birth on January 20, 1992 to Udo
Udoma Avenue, the current location where its massive edifice sits.
Activities
which heralded it birth to many may have said the Legislature then was a 'child
of circumstance'; realities then made it so. But the outcome of that
circumstance prepared the ground for the Legislature which the State has now,
after 25 years!
Not
just known as the 'soul of democracy' but living its tenets makes it worth
discussing. Without Democracy, there can not be a Legislature, and without
Legislature, there is no Democracy!
No
wonder, there was no better choice of an accommodation to debut the Akwa Ibom
State Legislature than the former Old Uyo Provincial Hall at Barracks Road End
which hosted meetings by great sons of the State agitating for creation of Akwa
Abasi Ibom State. After its renovation, it was deemed fit as a liberation
ground to further, freely, discussed the development of the State and the
wellbeing of her people. Significant as it may have been, many wouldn't have
given thought of it.
The
preceding events of the Military President General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida,
at the centre; the 31 States then concluded plans on their elected Civilian
Governments, but with fear of the government at the center made active
politicians to go on hibernation just to stay safe due to blurry forecast of
the next move of the Government at the center. This paved way for political
'new-breed' to venture into the political arena.
These colouration gave birth
to the one year democratic experience between January 20, 1992 and November 17,
1993 until the Presidential election which was shifted to June 12 1993 was
annulled; bringing in General Sani Abacha.
There
have been intermittent breaks by military Governments since independence on
October 1 1960; but from September 23 1987 when Akwa Ibom State was created,
there have been two, which after 1993 to1998, posterity beckoned on Democratic
experience again in 1999 and this has been uninterrupted for eighteen (18)
years.
There
were forty-eight (48) Legislators in the first Assembly; though they did not
complete their four-year-tenure. That 22-months-and-29-days House as was led by
Chief Jimmy Jimmy Ntuen of blessed memory was able to pass ten (10) bills which
included; Laws Authentication Law; Appropriation Law; Supplementary
Appropriation Law; Private Medical Certificates and Medical Reports
(Validation) Law; Appropriation Law, 1993; Customary Courts (Ammendments) Bill;
Uyo Capital City Transport Corporation Law, 1993; Legislature and Judiciary
Self-Accounting Law, 1993; and The House of Assembly Service Commission Bill.
It is worthy of note that the Governor then, Obong Akpan Isemin gave assent to
eight (8) and vetoed two namely; The Private Medical Certificates and Medical Reports
Validation Bill; and Legislature and Judiciary Self-Accounting Bill, 1993.
However,
there were 28 bills which reached the floor of the House; one overidden bill by
the House; 62 motions reached the floor of the House and 16 were passed; 39
motions were pending at the Committee level; Four (4) motions defeated on the
floor; Three motions (3) were withdrawn by sponsors; while one (1) was dead in
printing process.
Relationship
of the Legislature with the Executive and the Judiciary cannot be overlooked. It
is the period where the Legislative - Executive relationship was strained due
to scarce resource as occasioned by obnoxious 'on-shore, off-shore' formula
applied by the Federal Government in the sharing of oil revenue. Legislature
and the Judiciary were on the same page as they fought for their financial
independence.
In
'The Pioneers', Dr. Okon Ekanem says "In 1992, a downward trend was
witnessed in the flow of funds from the Federal allocation from Abuja to the
States. The case of Akwa Ibom was pathetic. The little that could have been due
to the State was denied in the name of 'on-shore and of-shore' formula applied
in the sharing of oil revenue.
"A
stage was therefore set for the First Akwa Ibom State Legislature to be born
under poverty stricken state economy and to survive under stress. And like any
creature so born, fed and nourished in poverty, its survival was left to
chance. As a fall out, cold relationship sometimes developed between the
executive arm and Legislative arm. And this bordered on alleged 'starvation' of
the Legislature of funds by the Executive.
"Political muscles Flexing started to develop. In the ensued political muscle
flexing, the Legislature's quest for self-accounting as a means to ease
financial flow to the House could not receive acceptance and endorsement of the
Executive which is essentially the superior organ in the day-to-day
administration of the State".
The
working condition then could be akin to a utility vehicle attached to the House
officers which out of pity was released to the Clerk of the House for
'smooth-running' of legislative task. This made the speaker then to be going to
work in his private car. The ambience of lack of residential accommodation,
inadequate accommodation further stewed the strained relationship between the
Executive and the Legislature occasioned by scarce resources.
Legislative-Public
relation was relatively cordial though older politicians were of the view that
the 'new breed' politicians were focused on chasing money and pleasure rather
than making laws which manifest in the frequent altercations among politicians
at all levels. But generally, the House enjoyed public support as shown in the
case of opposing the sale of Breweries' Generator.
There
was no change in the leadership as there was well- defined Majority and
Minority leadership in that House.
The
Second Assembly was a mixture of of political gladiators from the 31 LGAs of
the State. Now, the Seats in the third arm were reduced from 48 in the 1st
Assembly to 26 in the 2nd Assembly. This is when Majority and Minority
Political Parties' leaderships were really felt in the third arm. The vibrancy
of the the House was based on this mix which contributed to the active lobbying
and called for various forms of agitation for development as it concerns their
respective interests.
The
2nd Assembly which was innaugurated on Wednesday, June 2, 1999 experienced two
leadership and completed its full four year tenure. They had Barr. Bassey
Essien as the first Speaker and subsequently, Chief
Peter Linus Umoh who led
that House till its expiration.
That
House considered 53 bills which 47 were Executive bills while six (6) were
private member bills. Forty-five (45) of these bills were passed by the House
and 39 of them were assented by the Governor.
Second
Assembly was the first to embark on constituency projects in the federation as
contained in the words of the 1st speaker of the 2nd Assembly, Barr. Bassey
Essien.
"I'm
a very modest person am not into telling people who I am or what I do. But I
can vividly remember it was during our time that the first constituency project
ever implemented anywhere in this country was initiated by us (AKHA) that was
in year 2000; even the National Assembly did not implement any constituency
project yet," Essien said.
He
also added that the decision was to draw dividends of democracy to the people.
However,
despite the minimal resources made available to the 2nd Assembly, they achieved
much as they ensured that Assembly Complex at Udo Udomma Avenue was completed
and commissioned before the end of their tenure.
It
is worthy to state that the total impress used to run the House then was
N600,000 and Speaker's salary then was N25,000; while other members had
N15,000.
On
June 2, 2003, the third Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly was innaugurated.
This House was birthed into a serene environment compared to the Traditional
Rulers Council Chambers which housed the 1st and partly the 2nd Assembly. Two
members; Rt. Hon. Ukata Akpan (Ini) and Rt. Hon. Aniefiok Thompson (Nsit Ubium)
were from the immediate predecessor; a Speaker, Rt. Hon. Nelson Effiong
(Oron/Udung Uko) was a Chief Whip in the first Assembly and Rt. Hon.
Chrysanctus Etteh (Okobo) was also a member in the first Assembly.
It
is worthy of note that the third Assembly broke the jinx and enjoyed stability
in leadership. The House had a single Speaker, Rt. Hon. Nelson Effiong,
throughout its four term.
Unfortunately,
the third Assembly witnessed the demise of two of her members; Late Hon. Joseph
Esitikott (Nsit Ibom) who was replaced by his wife, Hon. Sarah Esitikott.
Another fallen member was Late Hon. Ernest Ukochio II who represented
Ibeno/Esit Eket and was also the boss of the current Speaker of the sixth
Assembly, Rt. Hon. Onofiok Luke. This member was later replaced by Rt. Hon.
Okpolupm Etteh.
This
changes caused the Majority and Minority leadership status of the House then to
be altered. The death of the Minority Whip, Hon. Esitikott made the Minority
Leader, Hon. (Obongunwana) Iniobong Ekanem, a leader without follower as they
were just two members from the opposition party. However, the House became
fully a PDP House as Late Esitikott was replaced by his wife on the platform of
the ruling party (PDP); while the Minority Leader secretly decamped to PDP.
This changed the Majority Leader, Hon. (Dr.) Etido Ibekwe's position to a House
Leader.
What
was perculiar about the third Assembly was the declaration of every last
Tuesday of the month as "Akwa Ibom People Day". It was a day where
public office holders like Commissioners and Special Advisers under invitation
will appear before the House to give progress report of their
Ministries/extra-ministerial departments and attend to questions from members
of the public.
Also,
it is in this House that wedding bells rang the most. Four members did tie the
knot with their spouses during the tenure of the third Assembly. They were;
Hon. (Sir) Ekpenyong, Rt. Hon. Udobong Ekpo, Hon. Eduok Eduok and Hon. Chris
Udofia.
The
Legislature then received 31 bills which 18 were passed and 14 assented to by
the Executive.
The
fourth Assembly was innaugurated on June 5, 2007 and that House had two
speakers. The Rt. Hon. Ignatius Edet and Rt. Hon. Anietie Etuk's Leaderships.
Though turbulent as will be described by historians, they collaborated with the
Executive Arm to achieve the uncommon transformation by the leadership of the
State then.
All the 26 members of the fourth Assembly were PDP members and three clerks
served during this tenure.
The
House engaged in capacity building programmes through organisation of workshops
to train and re-train members and staff of the Assembly towards work
efficiency. Also, they saw to the construction of a large capacity petrol station
with car servicing facilities.
However,
26 bills were received. Twenty-four (24) were passed out of which 17 were
assented to. Forty-two (42) resolutions were made to persuade government of the
day to engage in programs to fasten up development in the State.
The
fourth Assembly was dissolved by exactly 3:30pm on Friday June 3, 2011.
With
her own perculiarity, the fifth Assembly which was christined "the
People's Assembly", came on board on June 6, 2011 with 26 members and
could be attested as another House apart from the third Assembly which
experienced stability in leadership under Rt. Hon. Samuel Ikon as Speaker for
the four year tenure.
No
death was recorded but five (5) seats were declared vacant at the wee-hour of
that House. This decision by the leadership of the House was in view of the
movement of the five members from the ruling party (PDP) to opposition parties
to further their political ambitions.The State Constituencies affected were;
Mbo (Rt. Hon. Alice Ekpenyong); Nsit Atai (Hon. Sarah Elijah); Uruefong Oruko
(Hon. Bassey Etienam); Ini (Rt. Hon. Paul Owo); and Uruan (Hon. Kufreabasi
Etuk).
Comprising
of intellectuals who added value to the development of the State through good
laws and resolutions, the fifth Assembly can not be forgotten with its alleged
'Obnoxious Pension Bill' which caused a chasm amongst members as some members
outrightly opposed the bill. However, the vibrancy of this House at that time
can not be underestimated.
In
the valedictory speech to mark the end of the fifth Assembly, the speaker,
Elder Samuel Ikon on Friday said the fifth Assembly, under his leadership,
passed 23 bills and 75 resolutions in four years.
The
Sixth Assembly commenced on June 8, 2015 with Rt. Hon. Aniekan Uko as the first
Speaker. Later in that year, the Court of Appeal nullified his election and the
vacuum needed to be filled which Rt. Hon. (Barr) Onofiok Luke emmerged as the
second Speaker of the Sixth Assembly.
The
Sixth Assembly has christened itself as “the People’s Assembly” making it
responsible to engage in legislative business having the interest of the common
man at heart.
The
House in two years of existence has considered 47 bills which are at different
stages of legislative procedure.
The bills cover areas like education, health, governance, youth
development/empowerment, economic and revenue generation, environment,
judiciary, security and social development. Also, over 100 resolutions have
been made by the present Assembly; and over 30 public hearings have been
witnessed so far by the Sixth Assembly.
The
House in two years has minor changes in positions of House officers and
reshuffling of committee heads. All, in the reasoning of the leadership of the
House, is to smoothened the wheel of administration in the Third Arm of
Government.
As
the Sixth Assembly celebrates 25 years of Legislative Excellence in Akwa Abasi
Ibom State, the people of the State look forward to a more robust
Executive-Legislative relationship.
They
seek a Legislature which will always defend the right of a common-man, will
never bang the gavel in support of any matter which is not in the interest of
the people.
Akwa
Ibom indigenes seek a voice through the legislature which will be proactive on
issues concerning the interest of the State, maintaining peace and unity amongst
indigenes, dissolving ethnic barriers across board and encouraging spirit of
sportmanship defying political divide.
The
Sixth Assembly should see themselves as Pioneers who will set the tone for a
new era which succeeding Assemblies will follow in pursuit of policies and
programmes to advance the State and its citizenry through its legislative
strides.
It
should be an era of selfless service laced with transparent leadership and
effective representation which truly, the Legislature will maintain its
essence, 'The Soul of Democracy'.
Happy
Anniverssary!
©️Nigerian
Pulse Newspaper
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