The Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has ordered immediate reinstatement of Vice Chairman of Oruk Anam Local Government Council, declaring invalid and unconstitutional the purported swearing in of another Vice Chairman.
Recall that Oruk Anam Legislative Council had on March 23, 2021, in a petition signed by two-third Councillors, impeached Mr. Abasiama Etukakpan, citing false declaration of age as reason.
Consequently, the House directed the council to pay Etukakpan all his entitlements from the date of the purported impeachment.
At its Plenary on Thursday, July 15, 2021, the State House of Assembly received two separate petitions on the matter.
The petitions were read by the Chairman, House Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Public Petitions, Hon. Victor Ekwere.
The Speaker, Rt. Hon. Aniekan Bassey, referred the matter to the House Committee on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs headed by Rt. Hon. Mark Esset.
The speaker urged the Committee to investigate the petition and report back within one month.
Presenting the Committee’s report at Tuesday’s plenary, Rt. Hon. Mark Esset pointed out that Hon. Abasiama Etukakpan was in the first instance, not served any official notice of impeachment.
He noted that the reasons given by the Councillors to the committee for impeaching the Vice Chairman were purely pre-election matters and lie within the electoral process and the courts.
The speaker also told the House that the councilors did not follow proper impeachment procedures as regulated in Section 44 of the Local Government Administration Law (2017) in the impeachment process of Hon. Abasiama Etukakpan.
“The Legislative Council usurped the powers of the House of Assembly by taking the law into their hands. The Chairman Hon. Kingsley Frank on his own authority picked and inaugurated a new Vice Chairman for Oruk Anam Legislative Council in which he has no authority to do so,” he said.
Also at Plenary, the House received a Motion on the ‘Deplorable Condition of Ikot Akpan Abia-Enen Nsit Road with deep gully at Mbiakot’ sponsored by Hon. Ifiok Udoh (Nsit Ibom).
Also, the Akwa Ibom State Waterfront Infrastructural Development Bill, 2021 scaled through a Second Reading.
The House also ratified the Report of the House Committee on Public Accounts on Covid-19 Budget Execution of Akwa Ibom State Government from the State Auditor-General for the Quarter ended March 31, 2021.
In the meantime, the House has adjourned its plenary to Thursday, August 5, 2021.
