The Akwa Ibom State chapter of the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO) has berated the leadership of the state House of Assembly and Peoples Democratic Party for boycotting peace meeting convoked to resolve the crisis bedevilling the house.
Onofiok Luke, the Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, had on Monday, November 19, 2018, declared the seats of five state lawmakers vacant for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), citing Section 109 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).
The lawmakers were Nse Ntuen, Idongesit Ituen, Otobong Ndem, Victor Udofia and Gabriel Toby, though the affected had been in courts with the Speaker on the subject matter prior to November 19, 2018.
Addressing a press conference in Uyo on Wednesday, Comrade Franklyn Isong, the state Chairman of the CLO, said this in reaction to the boycotting of a truce meeting convened by the body on Monday, December 24, 2018, to address the issue of the five sacked lawmakers from the state house of assembly, by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the leadership of the assembly.
Recall that the PDP, in a press release signed by its spokesperson in the state, Ini Ememobong, stated that the CLO had no constitutional powers to wade into a matter that is still pending in the court of law, an excuse it gave as reason for boycotting the peace meeting.
“It was resolved that the party cannot participate in that meeting for many reasons, chief among them being the fact that these issues are before courts and therefore discussing them will be subjudice,” the release read.
Similarly, the state House of Assembly had rejected the reconciliation move offered by the CLO.
The Chairman, House Committee on Information, Barr. Ime Okon told newsmen that in as much as the House was interested in peace, they could not attend CLO reconciliation meeting because the matter is before a competent court of law.
However, “CLO wishes to reiterate that the Rules of Procedure of the High Courts, the Court of Appeal, and even the Supreme Court, all allow for the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanisms in cases pending before those courts.
“CLO is, however, saddened that the leadership of the state house of assembly, the Counsel to Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Ekemini Udim, Esq., and the PDP, declined to attend the peace meeting, their reason being that the matter is sub-judice, since the matters are already pending in the courts of law.
“CLO wishes to reiterate that the Rules of Procedure of the High Courts, the Court of Appeal, and even the Supreme Court, all allow for the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism in cases pending before those courts,” Isong maintained.
Recounting how CLO took up the responsibility to address the lingering crisis, Isong said that the state commissioner of police, Mr. Musa Kimo, had convened a peace meeting with actors on both sides of the crisis with the CLO in attendance on 17th and 19th December, 2018, where efforts were made at resolving the issues.
“It was in the peace meeting of the 19th December, 2018, that it was unanimously agreed by all the parties present, that the civil Liberties Organisation – being a neutral body – should convene another peace meeting at a neutral venue, to be attended by all the parties and stakeholders, aimed at resolving the crisis,” Isong explained.
He elucidated further that the state commissioner of police, Kimo, has an order from the court charging him to ensure safe entrance of the five sacked members to the assembly for seatings, as well as an order from the assembly, asking him to bar the sacked members from gaining access to the chambers.
With the situation, Isong said that it behooves the CLO to step in and find ways to of settling the issue to avert further crisis.
The CLO chairman wondered why the PDP and leadership of the assembly appeared before a Senate committee in a bid to settle the crisis even when the cases were still pending in court.
“CLO restates that her interest in the crisis currently rocking the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly is purely altruistic. CLO is sanguine that the democracy requires peace to thrive, hence all hands should be actively on the deck to ensure and promote peace in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly,” Isong noted.
The CLO chairman further said “it is equally erroneous and mischievous for parties when had attended then peace meetings of the 17th and 19th December, 2018 at the office of the commissioner of police, and who had voluntarily agreed to meet at a peace meeting to be convened by the CLO, as a neutral body at a neutral venue, to layer turn back, boycott the same meeting, and casting aspersion at the CLO.
Isong warned against toying with the state legislature as it is the fulcrum of democracy, saying that the destiny and hopes of the people rest on it.