Court Stops Akwa Ibom Lawmaker from Parading Himself as Speaker

An Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting at Uyo, the state capital, has granted an interim injunction restraining a member of the five-member faction of the state House of Assembly, Hon. Nse Ntuen, from parading himself as Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.

The suit no: Hu/382/2018 was filed against Ntuen and two others by the Speaker of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Hon. Onofiok Luke and the state House of Assembly.

The presiding judge, Justice EFF Obot, adjourned the hearing of the motion on notice to December 7, 2018.

“After hearing Ekemini Udim, of Counsel for the applicants, and upon the court being satisfied that the application has been brought in substantial compliance with the rules of the court, the application is hereby granted. That an order of interim injunction be and is hereby issued restraining Hon. Nse Ntuen, the first respondent from continuing to parade himself as the speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice,” said the order.

The court order, signed by an assistant director, Mr. Cletus Akpan, was dated November 28, 2018.

It will be recalled that women across the 31 Local Government Areas of the state tate, led by the state Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Dr. Glory Edet, clad in black attire, had earlier protested against Ntuen, insisting that Luke remains the authentic speaker.

The women also protested police partisanship in the state, calling for redeployment of the newly posted State Police Commissioner, Mr. Musa Kimo.

Also youths of Eket LGA of the state had blocked Mobil Housing, Mobil Airstrip and other Exxon Mobil locations with coffin and vowed to disrupt operations if the federal government continued to fuel crisis in Akwa Ibom State.

Their words as captured by one of the youth leaders, Daniel Essien, who declared that, ” we will resist every operations in the ExxonMobil field, if the federal government continues in fueling crisis in our peaceful State,we will stop every arm of WARSAW perpetrated in our peaceful State”.