Premium Times is reporting that Governor
Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom state
supervised the beating of a lawmaker. Read
below...
The Akwa Ibom state House of Assembly has
descended into a serious crisis after the state
governor, Godswill Akpabio, personally
supervised the beating of a lawmaker he
suspected to be politically opposed to him
and his loyalists, Premium Times has learnt.
Mr. Akpabio, witnesses said, watched as his
loyalists manhandled Onofiok Luke, chairman
of the House Committee on Finance and
Appropriations, who was accused of being
rude to the governor after he rose in defense
of another lawmaker accused of challenging a
loyalist of the governor at a caucus meeting
held two days earlier.
The governor, our sources said, beamed with
smiles as members of his kitchen cabinet,
comprising Nse Ntuen, chairman of Essien
Udim local government and Emmanuel Ekon,
a member representing Abak/Ika/Etim Ekpo
federal constituency in the House of
Representatives, assaulted Mr. Luke for being
allegedly rude to the governor.
The incident happened November 2 at a
funeral service in honour of the mother-in-law
of a state lawmaker, Gabriel Tobi, held in Etim
Ekpo local government area of the state.
Mr. Akpabio had at the event summoned some
lawmakers and tongue-lashed them for doing
nothing after Victor Udofia, a lawmaker
representing Ikono/Ini state Constituency,
allegedly attacked his loyalist, Aniekan Akpan, a
member representing Ukanafun state
constituency, at a caucus meeting of the
House.
Witnesses say as the governor fumed and
abused Mr. Udofia, who was not at the event,
an equally furious Mr. Luke rose in defence of
his colleague, telling the governor to abandon
his divide-and-rule tactics in the interest of
the state.
The governor had directed the speaker of the
Assembly, Sam Ikon, to immediately activate a
process that would lead to the suspension of
Mr. Udofia from the House. But Mr. Luke
reportedly shot back, saying Mr. Udofia
committed no offence and that any move to
punish him would be resisted.
Angered by Mr. Luke’s audacity, Messrs Ekon
and Ntuen descended on him, hitting and
punching him repeatedly.
Mr. Akpabio simply looked on, our sources
said.
The fight, we learnt, only ended after Paul
Ekpo, the state Chairman of the Peoples
Democratic Party, intervened.
The Akwa state House of Assembly is now
divided along those from the governor’s
minority Annang ethnic group and those from
the majority Ibibio ethnic group.
Some lawmakers accuse Mr. Akpabio of
financially empowering legislators from his
ethnic group and then using them to
undermine the speaker and other lawmakers
from Ibibioland.
Messrs Ntuen and Ekon, who attacked Mr.
Luke, are from Mr. Akpabio’s Annang ethnic
group while Mr. Luke is Ibibio.
PREMIUM TIMES learnt that after the incident,
Mr. Akpabio directed his aides to embark on a
tour of media establishments to compromise
them and get them to drop stories on the
accident.
Concerned that the incident might do further
damage to his image, our sources within the
administration said, the governor also
hurriedly convened a press conference where
he allegedly bribed reporters with N50,000
each not to report the incident.
Mr. Akpabio could not be reached to comment
for this story.
But his spokesperson, who is also the state
Commissioner for Information, Aniekan
Umanah, confirmed there was a disagreement
between Mr. Onofiok and the governor.
Mr. Umanah said while talking to the governor
on the day in question, the lawmaker raised
his voice against Mr. Akpabio.
“Other members asked him not to shout
because he was talking to the governor,” Mr.
Umanah said. “Later, everything calmed down.”
The commissioner added via a text message, “I
was there in person. Nobody beat up Onofiok
talk less of doing so before the governor.”
Mr. Onofiok could not be reached for
comments. But a source close to him said he
had been under pressure from Governor
Akpabio in the last few days to address the
media to say he was never beaten by the
governor’s loyalists.
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