I join millions of Akwa Ibom people to say finally – yes, finally – the people’s choice for the Speakership of the State House of Assembly has – again, finally – emerged. Grammarians will call the use of finally in the above text a tautology, repetition and so on. I agree. But you do not celebrate the emergence of Speaker Onofiok Luke without using the word finally. Finally – yes, finally – because prior to the inauguration of the 6th session of the State House of Assembly, Luke was the song on every lips of the people – the real owners of the mandate which members of the House of Assembly hold in trust. If a referendum had been done on the Speakership, Luke would have scored over 90 per cent of the votes. Never in the history of the legislature in the state has the leadership been a subject of controversy, divided interests and political brinkmanship as that of the 6th Assembly.
By the zoning formula of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), which holds the majority in 6th Assembly, Luke was safe. By the House Rules, which “kept” the position for the ranking members, Luke was safe. By popularity among members given a level playing ground and conscientious secret voting, Luke was safe. By the capacity and capability to handle the position, Luke was also safe.
But what is safety in our political environment? Safety in our politics means the last minute. In just one minute, your safety nets could be thrown open and all your political catches are thrown overboard into the sea of political oblivion. Students, followers and players of our politics have many experiences to share. A call has seen people dropped at the point of being sworn in as Chairmen of Boards or Local Government Councils or as Commissioners. Resistance by stakeholders has also seen a candidate on the home run become a pitcher.
And so it was that Luke lost the Speakership to the lack of assurance of the quality of our politics. However, Luke’s loss was Luke’s gain. In the loss, he became even more popular. Those who know say he became the defacto leader of majority of the members of the House of Assembly including the then Speaker, Honourable Aniekan Uko. Those who know say his group was 18 in number while a paltry eight kept faith with the politics of “loyalty,” whatever the word ‘loyalty’ meant to them.
When the opportunity came for another Speakership election, following the annulment of the election of Honourable Uko, everybody agreed that it was finally – yes, finally – the time for Luke to ascend the throne, like the proverbial Nigerian movie Prince whose position was taken away from him by an envious uncle who later dies in curious circumstances and creates a vacancy.
Joy knew no bounds at the Assembly complex that day. I witnessed it; spoke with students, staff, citizens and members who were at the Complex to “hail, the king” and everyone said Luke stepped into his own shoes, a shoe kept long ago for him by God, providence and hard work.
The days to come will be very crucial and critical for Luke. The expectation of the people in his leadership is akin to the expectations people have of an elected Governor or President. No one wants to hear that the legislature does not have the power to implement even the laws it makes. In Luke, people see a new House of Assembly, one that will command the respect of the people through integrity, focus and efficiency to see through its three constitutional and legislative mandates of law making, oversight function and representation.
We do not really lack laws. Our problem is how to obey the laws that are already on ground. If we obey the Ten Commandments in the Bible alone, we have obeyed all the laws in the Criminal Code and the Constitution. So, it is really not about making laws that the people are interested in a Luke come to judgement as their Speaker. Our interest lies more in the Assembly’s role of oversight function and representation. In oversight function over the other arms of government, especially the Executive, lies the lot of expectation of the people. The people do not want a rubberstamp legislature any longer – rubberstamp in the sense that whatever the Executive thinks is right is considered right by the Legislature even when the people they represent do not give consent to their assumption. I still think the Legislature should have told our Boss Emeritus (to those of us who served under his charismatic and proactive leadership), Senate Minority Leader Godswill Akpabio, that though the Ikot Ekpene skyline will not be bad with an imposing monumental edifice like the 3-Point Sheraton Hotel he constructed, the city as a commercial nerve centre, needed an international Market the more. The market could have been stationed around the Ikot Umoessien axis and people will, rather than go to Aba, from Cross River State and Akwa Ibom hinterlands, go there to shop at less than the price of Ariaria. It will also take a legislature which cares about how the people’s commonwealth is spent to tell Governor Udom Emmanuel to stop further grown breaking ceremonies and try to push one of the industries up from the ground. In this season of declining revenue, only a bold House of Assembly can tell the Governor that all those industries will not come on stream within the next five years. We do not need five mega industries to make us industrialized except the target is the excitement just to show that we have built industries. 20 micro-industries, some producing as little as tissue papers; chalks; plastics; bottles; poultry feeds; cupboards and other office equipments; nails; plates; shoes; socks; groundnut oil; spoons, will affect the economy greater, and at a lesser cost, than the billions to be spent to build only the luxury buses and Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) plant at Itu Local Government Area. Some of these micro industries will take less than six months to build, requires less land area and need as little as N50 million as start-up capital but the chain of positive effect on the local economy will be far more than the ones whose grounds have been broken already. In any case, has the Governor gone through the files of the Ministry Of Commerce, Industry and Investments containing proposals by members of the state branch of the National Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI)? He will be shocked. Anyway, let me leave that for another day.
Speaker Luke is known to be intelligent, is a team player and will certainly know what the populace who are his real team mates want. He should expand the scope of his office because he is no ordinary Speaker. He is the people’s Speaker. He should have consultants in all fields – health; economy; finance; industries; tourism; environment; oil and gas etc, and draw advice and all sorts of expertise from them – for the sake of our collective future. He should also encourage the members of the House to get closer to the grassroots as much as possible, with the understanding that they are in the House because our constitution permits only a few of us to represent the whole, else all of us would be in the House to give our views on how we are being governed.
We all want a change in the way things are. We want a House of Assembly that will put every government intentions through the prism of check to see that it passes the people’s acceptability test.
I am, however, sure Luke’s Speakership will be different. He will not be confrontational but will also not be unduely compromising against our collective interest. In fact, he doesn’t need to be confrontational. He needs to cooperate with government but in the cooperation, make sure that government feels the pulse of the people before it does everything.
Well, for those of us who know Luke and have followed him closely, we are sure he possesses the quality of a Speaker needed at this time. Such qualities are shrewdness; doggedness; integrity; mastery in the art of diplomacy; soundness in mind and body; energy; empathy; a life devoid of regrettable afterthoughts; principles; a clear conscience; a knack for arbitration; a reservoir of knowledge; action and a moral and ethical compass. To us, these characteristics should affect our state positively in the days to come. So, we wait, prayerfully and optimistically hopeful.
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