Police vacate Akwa Ibom Assembly

Fri, Nov 23, 2018 | By publisher


Politics

The Police on Friday ended their siege on the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly. All entrances to the complex which had been barricaded since Tuesday morning are now open.

The police had on Wednesday sealed off the House of Assembly without giving any justification. The House was sealed off 48 hours after the All Progressives Congress youths protested the sack of a lawmaker, Idongesit Ituen.

Ituen, who represents the Itu State Constituency, was sacked by a Federal High Court for defecting from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to the APC.

At the sitting of the House on Monday morning, the Speaker, Onofiok Luke, declared the seats of four other lawmakers, who defected from the PDP to the APC, vacant.

But the five sacked lawmakers later met to remove Luke as speaker. They elected one of them, Nse Ntuen (Essien Udim State Constituency) to replace him.

Senator Albert Akpan (PDP Akwa Ibom North East) at the plenary on Thursday said the closure of the House of Assembly was preventing the lawmakers from accessing their offices and the chamber.

The Senate had on Wednesday mandated its Committee on Police Affairs to investigate the crisis and report back within two days. – Punch

– Nov. 23, 2018 @ 16:32 GMT |

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