Akwa Ibom Women Decry ‘Only 4 Assembly Slots’

With only four women cleared as the All Progressives Congress (APC) nominees for the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly out of the 26 state constituencies, an outcry has trailed the just concluded primaries.

LEADERSHIP Friday checks show that instead of the expected 35 percent slots for the women, the APC in the state, according to them, was too minimal to align with the spirit of Nigeria’s Special Seats for Women Bill, and the growing call for inclusive representation in governance.

However, assurances had come from the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, who assuaged the feminine feelings assuring that more state constituencies would be created to address the political anomalies in representation.

He revealed that legislative tinkering were being considered with a view to carving out more State Constituencies from Ikot Ekpene, Obot Akara, Etim Ekpo, Ika, Oron, Udung Uko, Ikot Abasi, Eastern Obolo, Esit Eket and Ibeno local government areas.

“Akwa Ibom State deserves more State constituencies to ensure even representation of the 31 LGAs,” the Senate President stated.

Speaking during the declaration of results of the APC House of Assembly primary held at his Essien Udim Council Secretariat, Afaha Ikot Ebak, Senator Akpabio, noted that Akwa Ibom deserves more than 26 State Constituencies, and promised to collaborate with the governor, Pastor Umo Eno, towards ensuring that more state constituencies are created for even representation.

“Each local government area ought to be represented by a member in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, but that is for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the rest of us to look at the constitutional provisions and look at the laws to see what we can do to bring that to bear.

“I am aware that some places, two local government areas share the same State Constituency, which really should not be so”, he noted.

For instance, he pointed out that while Essien Udim State Constituency has a representative in the State House of Assembly, some two local government areas have only one person as their representative.

The affected state constituencies are Ikot Ekpene/Obot Akara, Etim Ekpo/Ika, Oron/Udung Uko, Ikot Abasi/Eastern Obolo and Esit Eket/Ibeno.

On the emergence of Prince Akpabio, his cousin, as the APC candidate for the 2027 election, the Senate President noted with delight that the result as announced by the LGA Returning Officer (RO) shows that it was unanimous across the 11 Wards of the State Constituency, and congratulated the lawmaker on his well deserved victory.

“Prince Ukpong Akpabio, is a worthy representative of our people and of me in the State House of Assembly. Prince, to whom much is given, much is expected”, he enthused.

The Senate President, therefore, applauded Governor Umo Eno, for his leadership style which, he noted, has brought about the peaceful conduct of the primaries, and thanked the people for supporting the governor’s developmental efforts.

“I commend the APC for the peaceful conduct of the exercise. No stone was thrown at anybody. INEC is here as observers, we have NGOs and CSOs from Abuja and other places who are here. And I believe they are shocked at the peaceful nature of Akwa Ibom people. This is who we are and it is as a result of the good governance brought about by the governor,” he stressed.