Lobbying, Horse-trading As Akwa Ibom Assembly Elects Principal Officers Today

Incumbent speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Hon Aniekan Bassey (Uruan) and other principal officers will step down today for a new set of leaders to emerge.

Ahead of the inauguration of the 8th Assembly, there has been series of political intrigues such as lobbying and horse-trading, especially amongst the new and returning lawmakers from Ikot Ekpene senatorial district, where the slot is zoned.

LEADERSHIP gathered that before and after the May 29 inauguration of Pastor Umo Bassey Eno as governor, the contest for the Assembly’s top job has pitched legislators from the two geo-political divides of Abak-5, comprising Abak, Ukanafun, Etim Ekpo, Ika and Oruk Anam, against their colleagues from the Ikot Ekpene-3 axis – Ikot Ekpene, Obot Akara and Essien Udim.

Ikot Ekpene senatorial district has eight state constituencies including Etim Ekpo/Ika, represented by a returning lawmaker, Hon Mfon Idung; Abak, also represented by a returning member, Hon Udeme Otong, and Hon Asuquo Nanna Udo, another returnee from Ikono, but of the minority Young Progressives Party (YPP).

Other first stint legislators include Prince Ukpong Akpabio, cousin to former governor, Senator Godswill Akpabio (PDP), Essien Udim; Sampson Idiong, younger brother to the wife of the immediate past governor, Martha Udom Emmanuel (PDP), Oruk Anam; Emem Udom, former protocol aide to former Governor Emmanuel (PDP), Ukanafun and Israel Idaisin, former local government chairman (PDP).

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The serious contenders are the two returnees: Mr Idung of Etim Ekpo/Ika; Dr Otong, of Abak and Mr Idiong, a first-time lawmaker from Oruk Anam, all of the Abak -5, who are reported to have drawn the battle line against Prince Akpabio, a former commissioner for trade and investment, the only contender from Ikot Ekpene-3, and a first-time legislator.

But LEADERSHIP Friday gathered from government quarters that Prince Akpabio, remains the most favoured by the political establishment, “going by his unwavering loyalty, his abiding faith and commitment to the ruling PDP, as well as the role he played in midwifing the emergence of the current Pastor Umo Eno-led administration, which also ensured his (Ukpong’s) victory as the lawmaker for Essien  Udim.

Another source linked the likelihood of his installation as the consensus speaker of the 26-member legislature to his refusal to pitch tent with his senior cousin, Chief Akpabio, when the former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, ditched the PDP to align with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at the centre on August 8, 2018.

“Prince Akpabio being tipped by the political system to occupy the position of Speaker in the 8th Akwa Ibom Assembly, is totally a reward for loyalty, humility, steadfastness and commitment to a detribilised politics devoid of ethnicity and family sentiments.

“He stood by the immediate past governor when things seemed to have fallen apart for the PDP at the departure of his senior cousin, Senator Akpabio, to APC. He, against all odds remains till today to help rebuild the party from its near ruin, to its current formidable level to ensure Emmanuel won his re-election in 2019, and the enthronement of the current administration of Governor Eno, so he deserved to occupy the seat,” the source recalled.