EASTER OPEN LETTER TO UWEM ITA ETUK

ULAP. NDUONYI PASCHAL UWEH j.p

Public Relations And Policy Expert

#23 eyotong road, p.O BOX 112, oron, akwa ibom state.

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