Tuesday 5 January 2016

Why I didn’t emerge as Speaker of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly – Hon. Aniekan Bassey


Hon. Aniekan Bassey

The Member Representing Uruan State Constituency in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Hon. Aniekan Bassey has stated why he didn’t emerge as the Speaker of the assembly after the Court of Appeal sacked immediate past Speaker, Hon. Aniekan Uko. In an interview with newsmen recently in his office, the businessman cum politician said the issue of him emerging Speaker of AKHA was purely speculative. Read below some excerpts from the interview:
“The issue of me being a Speaker was speculative. People thought since the Speakership position was zoned to Uyo Senatorial District, that I should emerge the speaker. So it was based on assumption that Uyo Federal Constituency should produce the speaker because the immediate past speaker was from Uyo Federal Constituency (Ibesikpo Asutan to be precise). People thought either Uruan, Uyo or Nsit Attai should produce the Speaker. But speakership is more than that. You have to look at capacity and you have to look at what we are facing at this particular time. I believe that the Speaker that we have is the best for the moment. He has the capacity. He is a former Students Union president and former Speaker of the Nigerian Youth Parliament. He has the capacity to lead us at this time.

“I’m someone who believes in results, I believe in capacity, he has the capacity to be the Speaker and I support him wholly. We (Uyo Federal Constituency) are very happy with his style of leadership. His predecessor, Aniekan Uko was very good, he was a good leader but God knows why it had to happen the way it happened and a new Speaker, in the person of Rt. Hon. Onofiok Luke has emerged. He has the requisite experience having been in the 5th Assembly and this is his second term in the House of Assembly. So at this point in time experience matters. So we had to shelve whatever individual and sectional interest we had and we went for the best. I believe Rt. Hon. Onofiok Luke will not disappoint us. He has started on a very good note. He is a crowd puller, he is loved by many, he is a popular choice. The issue of me being a speaker was just speculative.”

…Full interview to be published later

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