Akwa Ibom Governor, Akpabio, Supervises Beating Of Opposition Lawmaker

The Akwa Ibom state House of Assembly has descended into a serious crisis after the state governor, Godswill Akpabio, personally supervised the beating of a lawmaker he suspected to be politically opposed to him and his loyalists.


Mr. Akpabio, witnesses said, watched as his loyalists manhandled Onofiok Luke, chairman of the House Committee on Finance and Appropriations, who was accused of being rude to the governor after he rose in defense of another lawmaker accused of challenging a loyalist of the governor at a caucus meeting held two days earlier.

The governor, sources said, beamed with smiles as members of his kitchen cabinet, comprising Nse Ntuen, chairman of Essien Udim local government and Emmanuel Ekon, a member representing Abak/Ika/Etim Ekpo federal constituency in the House of Representatives, assaulted Mr. Luke for being allegedly rude to the governor.

The incident happened November 2 at a funeral service in honour of the mother-in-law of a state lawmaker, Gabriel Tobi, held in Etim Ekpo local government area of the state.

The governor had directed the speaker of the Assembly, Sam Ikon, to immediately activate a  process that would lead to the suspension of Mr. Udofia from the House. But Mr. Luke reportedly shot back, saying Mr. Udofia committed no offence and that any move to punish him would be resisted.
Angered by Mr. Luke’s audacity, Messrs Ekon and Ntuen descended on him, hitting and punching him repeatedly while Mr. Akpabio simply looked on, sources said.

According to report, the fight, only ended after Paul Ekpo, the state Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, intervened. The Akwa state House of Assembly is now divided along those from the governor’s minority Annang ethnic group and those from the majority Ibibio ethnic group.
Messrs Ntuen and Ekon, who attacked Mr. Luke, are from Mr. Akpabio’s Annang ethnic group while Mr. Luke is Ibibio.

It was learnt that after the incident, Mr. Akpabio directed his aides to embark on a tour of media establishments to compromise them and get them to drop stories on the accident.
Concerned that the incident might do further damage to his image, sources within the administration said, the governor also hurriedly convened a press conference where he allegedly bribed reporters with N50,000 each not to report the incident.

Mr. Akpabio could not be reached to comment for this story.

But his spokesperson, who is also the state Commissioner for Information, Aniekan Umanah, confirmed there was a disagreement between Mr. Onofiok and the governor.

Mr. Onofiok could not be reached for comments. But a source close to him said he had been under pressure from Governor Akpabio in the last few days to address the media to say he was never beaten by the governor’s loyalists.

(Premium Times)