Who will be the next Assemblyman representing Nsit Ubium State
Constituency in the State House of Assembly in 2015. Darlington David
tours the area and brings to bare its politics and intrigues.
Nsit Ubium Local Government Area is blessed with heavy political names in the state such as a frontline governorship
aspirant in the state who is also the immediate past Secretary to Akwa
Ibom State Government (SSG), Obong Umana Okon Umana; a Member of the
Federal House of Representatives, Mr. Daniel Akpan; a former Member of
the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), Rev.
Effanga Inyang; a former Senator of the Federal Republic, Senator
Effiong Bob; a former Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly,
Elder Aniefiok Thompson; a former Chairman of Niger Delta Development
Commission (NDDC), Ambassador Sam Edem; the Peoples’ Democratic Party
(PDP) Chapter Chairman, Akparawa Inyang Anyang; Mr. Solomon Udofia, also
known as SWACOM; and a former Member of the old Cross River State House
of Assembly in the Second Republic, Chief Inyang Eno.
Other notable
political names from the area include a retired Captain of the Nigerian
Army who is also a Special Assistant to the State Governor on Security,
Captain Iniobong Ekong; a Special Assistant to the State Governor on
Petroleum Matters, Otuekong Emmanuel Ibiok; a Personal Assistant to the
Governor on General Duties, Mr. Inyang Unya; a Permanent Secretary in
the State Ministry of Finance, Elder Nse Ekefre, and his wife, Helen,
who was a Vice Chairman of the Council; and former Chairmen of the
Council, Barr. Essien Esema, and Elder Enefiok Ekpo.
The area, by
politics and tradition, has two Clans of Nsit and Ubium. The former is
made up of four Wards politically demarcated as Ibiakpan Oboetim (two
Wards), Ndiya (one Ward) and Itreto (one Ward), where the Member
representing the area in the State House of Assembly, Barr. Onofiok Luke
comes from. The latter is the largest and is made up of six Wards which
are further subdivided into two distinctive political zones of Ubium
North and Ubium South with three wards each.
Currently, the alleged
second term bid of the incumbent lawmaker is generating side whispers
all over the State Constituency with his not too visible opponents
insisting on the age-long rotation principle between the two clans. His
supporters are arguing that such notion should be discarded and that
performance should be the yardstick. But a youth leader and a
beneficiary of Comrade Luke’s benevolence, an indigene of Ubium, dared
his kinsmen, saying: “Onofiok Luke has done creditably well. He should
be allowed to run for a second term irrespective of which side of the
divide own the turn.”
From the grapevine, the name of the Local
Government Council boss, Mr. Ekpedeme Akpan, an indigene of Ubium, is
heard from the lips of a greater majority, though in very low tones as a
possible contender for the office, but Barr. Luke seems to be openly
enjoying the support of the youths, elders and some decision makers in
the state who are believed to be secretly mobilizing supports for him to
ensure that he emerges unopposed in 2015.
The 35 years old
Assemblyman through activism at the University of Uyo became elected as
President of the Students Union Government (SUG), and that unionism
struggle became a defining factor for him and later catapulted himself
to positions such as the Speaker of the West African Students
Parliament, Personal Assistant to a former Member representing
Ibeno/Esit Eket in the State House of Assmbly, Late Ernest Ukochio II,
represented the State in the inaugural Nigerian Youth Parliament (NYP)
where he was elected the pioneer Speaker and Personal Assistant to
Governor Godswill Akpabio on Protocol Matters.
But for Elder
Aniefiok Thompson (WINMOS), who won the Assembly seat to represent the
area on the platform of PDP in 1999 and got re-elected in 2003,
politicians in the Local Government Area have always prided the area as
the only one practicing rotation strictly among the three Local
Government Areas in the Federal Constituency.
The said rotation of
political offices in the area came to be in mid 1998 sequel to the new
dawn of democracy in the country. To kick start the rotation principle,
Elder Thompson, from Ubium, took the Assembly seat while Elder Enefiok
Ekpo, from Nsit, was made the Local Government Chairman.
The
practice became a standard with the Local Government Chairmanship and
the State House of Assembly seats moving between the two divides of the
Council. According to political observers, all that may be history if
the sitting Member’s incubated ambition for a second term becomes a
reality in 2015.
During Comrade Luke’s electioneering in 2011,
WINMOS, a great supporter of his, had said: “Rotation in our Local
Government has to do with the maturity of the PDP leadership. We took
time to educate our people that zoning or rotation should be maintained
because it’s a good omen for free and fair election.”
In 2002,
before WINMOS repented to become a rotation advocate in the area, he was
said to have thwarted the said principle when he defeated Mr. Solomon
Udofia, from Nsit, who felt it was their turn for the Assembly seat by
rotation. The principle was technically eliminated as the Chairmanship
position went to Mr. Daniel Akpan, an Accountant with ExxonMobil also an
indigene of Ubium. Hence, the two strong seats went to Ubium.
The
original agreed principle was, however, reinstalled in 2006. Then Daniel
Akpan completed his tenure at the Council and immediately swapped over
to the State House of Assembly, though with a little contention by other
Ubium aspirants. For the honour of that principle, in 2008, the
Chairmanship seat became an Nsit Affair, with Surveyor Chris Ekpo
emerging the Chairman of the Council.
The deal was kept in 2011 and
Daniel Akpan, one of the advocates of that arrangement who had once said
rotation was sacrosanct, completed his tenure, which he had vowed to
keep for a term, and left for a higher position, the Federal House of
Representatives, hence, Barr. Luke, from Nsit, succeeded him. Today, an
indigene of Ubium, the son of Late Comrade Amos Akpan, the first
Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the state, Mr. Ekpedeme
Akpan, is the Chairman of the Council, a position, observers maintain,
was single handedly, facilitated by the “political leader” of the area,
Obong Umana Okon Umana.
It is this believes that has given rise to
speculations that the former SSG, an indigene of Nsit, wants the
Assembly seat to go to Ubium as the second term ambition of the
Assemblyman may not go down well with his.
To other political
observers, it is an open secret that if Barr. Luke returns to the House,
he is likely going to grasp the position of Speaker and this may not be
in tandem with the interest of the former Chief Scribe of the State.
Some others believe the Assemblyman, who is currently heading one of the
most important committees in the House, Committee on Finance and
Appropriation, may likely wield support to another governorship aspirant
to achieve his ambition.
What becomes of the agreed arrangement in
2015 is yet to be unveiled going by recent “political events” in the
state. But going by the political permutation of the area, the event
that took place in 2002 is envisaged.
Of all his election campaign
promises, like reviewing some of the laws of the state, giving a legal
backing to the free education policy, amendment of the Integrated
Farmers’ Law, among others, the lawmaker has only been able to sponsor
the passage into law a bill for the establishment of the State HIV/AIDS
Control Agency.
In terms of infrastructural development and
sustainable empowerment, the lawmaker is said to have set up a
foundation, The Akpan Luke Legacy Foundation, aimed at identifying and
supporting youths from his Nsit Ubium constituency.
The lawmaker,
some people in the area said, is an intelligent and focused
representative, especially, given his thought on national issues. Some
of his thoughts include: “Politics and sentiments should be kept at bay
with national interests made to tower above political sentiments and
personal or group interests. The general welfare of Nigerians must be
what underscores interrogations and responses during hearing sessions.
Shouldn’t we learn better by the American example where self-interest is
completely downplayed for national interests?”
On the role of
lawmaking, Barr. Luke is reported to have said: “More important than
anything is the fact that we must go back to our traditional role as a
pressure group in order to protect the rights of our members. Too many
times we have seen our populace throw away the baby with the bath water
and obviously like most things in Nigeria, the constitution amendment
has generated a lot of controversies as some people are trying to
introduce very obnoxious items emanating from their idiosyncrasies, in a
bid to derail the process. We must be determined to follow this
amendment process to a successful conclusion.”
Today, in Nsit
Ubium, despite losing the seat of the Chief Scribe to the State
Government to ONNA, politics is taken very serious. It is indeed the
business of everybody. It is, therefore, little wonder that the alleged
second term campaign of Comrade Luke is generating a great interest
among the people. The Local Government Council boss is rumoured to be
interested in the seat but his ambition is provoking arguments for and
against. Can Obong Umana’s camp still look beyond the incumbent
lawmaker, as speculated? Of Ekpedeme Akpan and Onofiok Luke, who is a
joker? The people would decide.
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