ULAP. NDUONYI PASCHAL UWEH j.p
Public Relations And Policy Expert
#23 eyotong road, p.O BOX 112, oron, akwa
ibom state.
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27th
March 2016
PRINCE UWEM ITA ETUK,
HONOURABLE COMMISSIONER,
MINISTRY OF LANDS AND URBAN
RENEWAL,
AKWA IBOM STATE GOVERNMENT,
IDONGESIT NKANGA STATE SECRETARIAT,
UYO.
Sir,
I greet you in the spirit of this
solemn and holy season of the commemoration of the betrayal, torture, death
and resurrection of our lord Jesus Christ. It is indeed a critical reminder
of the nature of men towards their fellow men and the grace of God towards us
– men. I hope that you have as a leader not been too busy to take advantage
of the asomatous climate that this season brings considering how far this God
has brought you.
I also like to use this medium to
congratulate you for delivering Rt. Hon. Aniekan Uko aka “Iboro Akam”- your kinsman and protégé
in the recently concluded Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Rerun. You will
agree with me that we have all seen how precarious it has now become to
contest elections against the All Progressives Party led Federal Government
in this country. Still worthy of commendation is the political sagacity that
has kept you thus far in Akwa Ibom state politics as the most successful
former state chairman of the People's Democratic Party alive. Indeed, no
other past chairman of the party has the privilege of such rodomontade -
remaining relevant for this long and counting. Perhaps you may have to
organize consultancy courses for your successors.
Be that as it may, let me again
premiate you over the recent political developments in the state as the
streets are now rife with news of you leading some elements from your Federal
Constituency to wage a war against the present administration on the grounds
that Uyo Federal Constituency does not occupy any sensitive position in the
present administration despite the fact that it hosts the seat of government.
My commendation here is in the fact that it is a very noble thing for one to
fight for his people. My reason for writing you this letter is also in this
very act. Thus, my concern is in the cause itself as it raises serious
questions of propriety as well as nobility of your demands. I must confess
that I was taken aback by news that you are demanding that the seat of the
Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly be relinquished to your
kinsman Rt. Hon. Aniekan Uko because of two reasons
1. That it was formerly occupied by
him before he was ousted by the court.
2. That the people of Uyo Federal
Constituency do not have any exalted political position in the present
administration.
Now, without prejudice to your
office as the immediate past state party chairman of PDP in Akwa Ibom State,
former Special Assistant to Gov. Godswil Obot Akpabio (as he then was) and
now the Honorable Commissioner for Lands and Urban Renewal, I hereby state
not just my disagreement with your agitations but it's intrinsic political
impropriety as well.
First, permit me to state as a way
of refreshment to your memory without vaccinations here that you seem to have
forgotten that the so called Uyo Federal Constituency was never originally in
the equation and permutations that led to the emergence of the 10th speaker
of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly. Remember that On the 8th of June
2015 every stake holder including yourself and the legislators-elect from the
Uyo Federal Constituency inclusive of your kinsman and protégé Rt. Hon. Elder
Aniekan Uko all went to the gallery and/or chamber of the Akwa Ibom State
House of Assembly to witness the swearing in of the new members of the House
of Assembly and their principal officers. Why so? It was simply because all
the house members elect from Uyo Federal Constituency were first timers which
the notorious legislatures’ tradition nay convention barred from contesting
for principal offices. Thus, the contest for Speaker of the house was by this
very legislature-culture set between two old timers from two other Federal
Constituencies being Etinan (Rt. Hon. Barr. Onofiok Luke) and Itu/Ibiono (Rt.
Hon. Barr. Ime Okon). But by way of some exigent circumstances the proverb
that "when two elephants fight it is the grass that suffers" was
defied. In this instance, the grass won a jackpot at the expense of two
warring elephants. And the notorious tradition was broken without the
foreknowledge or plan of any man alive. That is how your kinsman emerged as
Speaker of the Sixth Assembly - a child of circumstance by way of compromise
between two elephants. You will agree with me that you are yet to even
recover from the shock of that June 8 jackpot.
But that unexpected happenstance was
overtaken by another unexpected event where the Court of Appeal nullified the
election of Rt. Hon. Aniekan Uko, declaring his seat in the house vacant and
his corollary office. This to me is a predicament which you all failed in
your capacity and sagacity to prevent either by way of political negotiation
or diligent litigation. So you put the house in a precarious situation which
they rose up to salvage by unanimously voting in another Speaker whom as you
know was the elephant that was originally compromised for your serendipity.
As the saying goes, one good turn
deserves another. Rt. Hon. Barr. Comr. Onofiok Akpan Luke did not economize
his support for your kinsman when the lucky lot fell on him as the first
Speaker of the Sixth Assembly, neither was he sparing in supporting Iboro
Akam at the rerun. It is therefore only meet that now that he is the Speaker
of the Sixth Assembly that you show good sportsmanship and reciprocate the
courtesy. But alas! You seriously want the present speaker to handover the
position of the speaker of the House of Assembly to the former Speaker
because the former Speaker has returned to the house after a successful rerun
that the present speaker himself was very much instrumental to. Kudos! You're
indeed a political warrior.
This now leads me to the second
issue of the need to give an exalted office to the people of Uyo Federal
Constituency. And I'd like to ask you, please when did all these craze for
Uyo Federal Constituency begin? Did it just come to your knowledge now that
Uyo Federal Constituency should be given a juicy position? I think that there
is more than meets the eyes in this new crusade of yours. Perhaps you are
wont to stir unnecessary yet serious trouble within the party so as to cast
bad light upon these latter days of your successor as party chairman - Obong
Paul Ekpo who is currently being celebrated for the peerless sagacity with
which he's been able to captain the internecive crew of the notorious PDP
Ship. This is unarguably another of your skulduggeries to make Obong Paul
Ekpo's tenure as State Chairman of the PDP end in disarray. This belief is
borne from the fact that Akwa Ibom people have so far showed so much good
solidarity and goodwill to the Sixth Assembly without complains against the
present speaker and members of the Sixth Assembly themselves have not
expressed lack of confidence in their present leadership either. So it smacks
of otiose meddlesome interloping for you to call for change in leadership of
the house all in the bid to gratify some discriminatory conspiracies.
Sir, perhaps I should ask when you
suddenly received the calling to become an isonomic crusader because I do
remember that in your time as state chairman of PDP the people of Oro Federal
constituency did not get any juicy office and you did not as a state party
chairman do anything to address that injustice being that just as Uyo Federal
Constituency claims to host the seat of government, that Federal Constituency
which I belong also hosts the economy of this state? Yet no love was lost. We
the people of Oro nation rather partnered with that very administration to
deliver its uncommon transformation agenda. A virtue that you and your
Federal Conspiracy cannot boast of.
In fact, I dare challenge you that
this Uyo Federal Constituency of yours has been the most ungrateful of
Federal Constituencies in Akwa Ibom state such that no matter how much juicy
and sensitive positions it gets it still has a penchant for opposition to
distract and destroy in lieu of supporting the government it so claims to
host. A good example is what you are already doing right now. Uyo Federal
Constituency comprises four Local Government Areas, namely, Uyo, Uruan,
Ibesikpo and Nsit Atai. The last time I checked Ibesikpo LG has about Three
exalted Offices in this state namely: the office of the Commissioner for
Lands/Town Planning which you gloriously occupy; the Office of the Chief
Judge of the state occupied by Justice Stephen Okon whom the Governor against
all pressures showed political magnanimity and upgraded him from acting chief
Judge that he was initially and the Office of the State Accountant General filled
by Mr. Lynus Nkan. I'm aware that you may be tempted to argue that the other
two offices are civil service positions so let me also do you the honest
favour of reminding you that the state governor could have jolly well sent
your kinsmen home in retirement cargoes to make way for others but chose not
to. Uyo LG on the other hand has the office of the Commissioner for Housing
and Urban Renewal in the person of Prince Enobong Emmanuel Uwah while Uruan
Local Government maintains the office of the Commissioner for Transport in
the person of Prince Godwin Ntukude. Imagine! In a cabinet of twenty
Commissioners Uyo Federal Constituency alone has three Commissioners leaving
the other nine Federal Constituencies to manage the rest. And in your typical
Oliver Twist-like nature you're still crying foul.
Similarly, this could be another
mischief of yours to destabilize the present administration. After all, you
have been fingered as one of the little foxes planted in Gov. Udom Emmanuel's
cabinet to undermine his administration so that he will not outshine some
people's. This is premised by the reports that you not long ago attempted to
set the people against the Governor when you were seen and heard telling
victims of the recent house demolition exercise conducted by your ministry
that it was the Governor himself who approved the said demolitions against
your counsel. Now, you're bringing another distraction upon the government as
though the protracted plague of electoral tribunal were not enough.
My advice to you from the
foregoing, if you care to listen, is that the determination of the leadership
of the House of Assembly is the exclusive constitutional duty of the members
of the house which you're not. Section 92 of the 1999 Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended) provides that "There shall be a
Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of a House of Assembly who shall be elected by
the members of the house from among themselves." This constitutional
provision has been complied with by members of the Sixth Assembly who
hitherto have expressed their overwhelming satisfaction with it.
Unfortunately for you, you're not a member of that house but as a member of
the present state government and as an Akwa Ibom son it is your duty to
respect that decision.
If however you still insist that Uyo
Federal Constituency be given another juicy position in addition to the ones
you already have then let me suggest you look for vacancy elsewhere because
there's none in the Sixth Assembly at the moment. It is kenspeckle that the
office of the State Chairman of the People's Democratic Party is almost
vacant being that the tenure of the present state party chairman is at its
last turn of weeks. If I were you, I'll be campaigning to fill that vacancy.
And I suggest as a former party chair you should not nominate yourself to
fill the position as you may be tempted to by the selfish inclination of being
the only person to occupy the office twice. Instead, please do show some
nobility, nominate an Nsit Atai indigene for the office as the only LG in Uyo
Federal Constituency that seem to be left out in your political gourmandism.
Nevertheless, whatever you do do
bear in mind that the present government of Akwa Ibom state has had enough
distractions for the term and cannot afford to be led catawampus by some
inordinate political Oliver Twists. Prove yourself not a saboteur of the
Dakkada project. Act honorably and promote unity however the sacrifice it may
cost you after all it's the dues leaders pay to serve. If others have paid
more in the past to bring us where we are today, it won't hurt to pay this
little today for a greater future.
I hope that my letter regardless meets
you well. Once again, let the triumph of love and grace over greed, betrayal,
depravation and sufferings as this season themes guide you. Happy Easter.
Yours in the Dakkada Vineyard
Ulap Nduonyi Paschal Uweh
email: nduonyiuweh@yahoo.com
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