ALL Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain and Cross River Basin Development Authority Board Chairman Eseme Eyibo yesterday called on the Akwa Ibom Assembly factional Speaker Onofiok Luke to reverse the suspension of five APC lawmakers.
He gave the recall of the lawmakers as the fastest way to end the crisis rocking the Assembly.
Eyibo, a former House of Representatives member and spokesperson of the Akwa Ibom APC governorship campaign council, maintained that the factional Speaker acted in error by declaring the seats of the APC lawmakers vacant even when judgement was yet to be passed on their cases.
He told a news conference in Uyo yesterday that the speaker’s action amounted to a rape on democracy because the legislature remained the mother of democracy.
Eyibo said: “The Speaker should have been able to separate activism from lawmaking and by allowing himself to be influenced by Governor Udom Emmanuel in that matter, it meant that there is actually no guarantee of the independence of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly.
“Aside, the speaker has no constitutional backing to declare those five seats vacant because he was aware of the motion for stay of execution. He was aware of the arguments of the lawyers in court.
“He is also at fault in his application of Section 109 because when the member for Urueoffong Oruko defected, there was no crisis in the party but meanwhile when the lawmakers defected from the PDP, the party was undergoing a merger and they said that they don’t want to be part of the merger,” Eyibo explained.
According to him, the APC remained a law-abiding party as they obeyed all court instructions when the courts removed Governor Emmanuel and Senator Bassey Albert, both of the PDP, when they lost at the courts after their elections.
He stressed that the governor is merely trying to intimidate and discourage other lawmakers who want to defect to the APC by influencing the factional into taking an unpopular and unlawful decision and denying the APC lawmakers of their entitlements and privileges in the House.
Eyibo further faulted Emmanuel’s visit to the Assembly and accused him of misusing the talents of the youths of the state.
“It was wrong for the Governor to use his instincts. It is also wrong for him to use youths who ought to be in school to attack our lawmakers and while he is complaining of Warsaw war, he should also remember his threat to unleash Akwa Ibom youths on Ita Enang after he participated in a radio programme,” Eyibo said.
To Advertise or Publish a Story on NaijaLiveTv:
Kindly contact us @ Naijalivetv@gmail.com
Call or Whatsapp: 07035262029, 07016666694, 08129340000
