Home coming: Eket agog as Senator Helen Esuene returns * Says I have kept my word

BY EMMANUEL AKPAN

Last week Thursday was a remarkable day in the political history of Akwa Ibom State as the people of Eket Senatorial District turned out in large number as well as rolled out drums to celebrate the home coming of the distinguished Senator Helen Esuene after a successful four years of representation in the National Assembly. Senator Helen Esuene who was elected in 2011 to represent the people of Eket Senatorial District in the seventh Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, ended her tenure after the seventh Senate came to an end two weeks ago.

The reception which took place at Villa Marina Hotel, Eket LGA, attracted stakeholders from the Senatorial District, Labour Party members, political groups, friends and close associates, women in different types of uniforms as well as youth groups.

Addressing the gathering, Senator Helen Esuene said she was fulfilled and happy to be received and celebrated by the people of her Senatorial District after a robust and effective representation in the seventh Senate from 2011-2015.
Senator Esuene noted that during her campaigns to the Senate in 2011, she had promised to go for a single term of fours and after which she will vacate the seat, adding that she has kept to her words to have vacated the seat for somebody else to take over in spite of pressure for her to return to the Senate.

 

“Today is another mile stone in my life. When I look back, I cannot thank God enough. Four years ago I was sworn-in as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and today I am vacating that seat as a former Senator, even though once a Senator is always a Senator, but I’m no more in the hallowed chamber. It is an achievement for me because when I look back, I was able to achieve much within my four years in the Senate. After all set and done, it has been time very well spent.”  

According to her “We started with 109 Senators, 2 died, so we were 107 and out of them, 5 Senators were chosen by the press corps of the National Assembly for an award and I was one of them. I really thank God for his mercies. Going to the Senate and coming back was a project.”

The former first lady said while in the Senate, she had delivered on her campaigns promises to her constituents in terms of constituency projects which included: scholarship schemes to the people of Eket Senatorial District, construction of class room blocks in some schools in the Senatorial District, built food processing centre in Eket LGA as well as built Women World Memorial in Ikot Abasi Local Government Area, a project which she described as very dear to her heart and to the women folks in general.

The Senator disclosed that she was happy with her performance in seventh Senate, saying that she had sponsored 5 bills on the floor of the Senate, raised some motions even as she maintained that she had sold two of her bills to a Senator who hails from a Riverian area because the bills has to with Establishing a Regulatory Body for the Mangrove and also a bill to Regulate the Nuclear Biological and Chemical Weapons of Substances. She disclosed that her most celebrated bill in the Red Chamber was a bill for Violent against Prohibition. 

Mrs. Esuene who was the chairman, Senate Committee on Youth and Women Affairs, further said the seventh Senate was full of bunch of very active people, adding that going to the Senate has accorded her the opportunity to meet and make new friends even as she maintained that memories of the seventh Senate will forever remain with her for the rest of her life.

She advised new Senators in the eighth Senate that they should double their effort to surpass them as there is no much time to delay and that they have to hit the ground running. “They new Senators must hit the ground running. The four years is just two years. So they don’t have much time to waste, before you know it, four years is gone.” 

Senator Helen Esuene used the opportunity to thank the people of Eket Senatorial District for the confident they had in her to represent them in the Red Chamber and for the support she enjoyed throughout her stay in the National Assembly.       

 Helen Esuene who was the governorship candidate for Labour Party in the just concluded general elections in the state, used the occasion to call on all party faithful to remain claim, saying the party had filed a case in the election petition tribunal seeking for a cancellation of the election.

Those who spoke at the event commended Senator Helen Esuene for her effective representation in the National Assembly. They thanked her for making Eket Senatorial District in particular and entire Akwa Ibom State proud in the Red Chamber.