The Many Sins of Rt. Hon. Sam Ikon By Henshaw NYONG Don’t waste your energy trying to educate or change opinions; go over, under, through, and opinions will change organically when you’re the boss. Or they won’t. Who cares? Do the right thing, and don’t care if they like it - American writer, actress and comedian, Tina Fey. For some weeks now, the Rt. Hon. Samuel Okon Ikon, Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly has hugged the headlines. A plethora of Akwa Ibom based newspapers have churned out incredibly eye popping captions to try to depict the mess in which the lawmaker and the fifth assembly are in. One or two tabloid (s) even elected to take up the role of the electoral umpire by declaring his seat vacant. Last week was indeed, a hectic week for the press with regards to Ikon conundrum. One question that is recurring in many quarters in the midst of the media bombardment is: what is/are the sins of this easy going gentleman of a Speaker? What did this man do that should precipitate this kind of incalculable heat capable of melting even the hardest of men. Did Speaker Sam Ikon kill anybody? Did he steal billions of pensioners fund? What exactly did this man do that is so weighty and abominable to warrant his extra-judicial “pen execution” Well, the home truth is that the man did not do anything. He is just a victim of political desperation, the fever of which spread round few media houses in Uyo. And having caught the fever, suffered diarrhea and started vomiting and stooling uncontrollably. No doubt, this is a serious situation that requires urgent attention. How come members of the revered 4th Estate of the realm, the watchdog of the society are now willfully abdicating their responsibility to the society? Instead of putting a little effort in investigative journalism for accurate, balanced, incisive and fair reportage, many journalists today indulge in what I call “hear and write” rather than the hear, ask and investigate option which is professional. This ugly culture is slowly and steadily making nonsense of the age old ethics of the profession, the type that preempted Franklin Roosevelt, one time President of the United States to argue that, it is better society stays with the press rather than politician”. For so long now, over one year to be exact, the Akwa Ibom polity has from time to time been heated with issues of the so called impeachment of Speaker Sam Ikon which everyone knows is a Political Gimmick designed by political toddlers to politically put the speaker on his toes. Instead of dissipating energy in developmental journalism, some of them have chosen to hoodwink the innocent public with misleading captions like: AKHA SPEAKERS POSITION DECLARES VACANT, RESIGN NOW OR BE IMPEACHED, LAWMAKERS TELL SAM IKON, UPROAR IN AKHA: SPEAKER FACES IMPEACHMENT and SAM IKON IS A STOOGE. Others are : SPEAKER FACES SACK, AKHA ON FIRE AKHA BOILS, ETHNIC WAR TEARS AKHA APART, FRAUD ROCKS AKHA. To the best of my knowledge, the speaker or any other lawmaker cannot be removed on frivolous grounds. The law books posit that An officer of the House can only cease to hold office in the House, if he is found wanting; maybe found guilty of treason, bribery, or other high crimes of misdemeanors, and then would be removed from office by a resolution of not less than two-third (2/3) majority votes of the members of the House. On these cheap gossips, vis-a-vis the perceived impeachment of Elder Ikon, I think those milling the rumour should rather inundate the learned public with water tight proves, the sins of this astute parliamentarian. With this, the people would now decide on whose side justice stands. But, I have an inkling that these desperadoes lack convincing and weighty evidence that could tilt the pendulum to their side. Obviously, this is the only explanation for the maddening frenzy about declaring the seat of the speaker vacant. It is a do or die tango and all means fair or foul must be explored and tried. After all, it is the end that justifies the means. Anybody who takes a little time to ponder on this macabre dance would end up with just one impression. And that is that the huge lie and cry is nothing but a maelstrom of those who dont mean well for the State. Assuredly, it would one day calm down, coalesce and purer into nothingness like earlier storms that have arisen from a section of the media against the person, office of Elder Sam Ikon and the fifth Assembly. Honestly, these desperadoes are indeed lucky. They are lucky because the man they want to nail by all means is a gentleman politician. He belongs to the class of the very rare but urgently needed breed of politicians that can rise above base politicking, which has, unfortunately become our albatross in this nation. What is happening to the current assembly never happened to its predecessors but heads rolled like flowing water during its time. In the past, dictatorship was so bad and disgusting that even mere rumors and sometimes, figments of imagination proved enough evidence to net out harsh treatment on other House members. But Ikon is not that kind of leader. He believes that variety is the spice of life. So, under him there is no kind of discrimination or divide and rule policy. Sworn in on 6th June, 2011, were 26 lawmakers and at every given time the decisions and actions of the House reflect this structure. This open door policy is at the root of the high level of camaraderie existing amongst the lawmakers. It also explains why over two years into their tenure no serious friction that could polarize the house has occurred; no lawmaker has been either suspended or impeached like what we hear even in our sister states. And to crown it all, the speaker has said it for the umpteenth time, that at all times in the life of the fifth assembly under his watch; the House would side with the people and pass laws that would be people-oriented and assured, that it would be anchored on effective collaboration with the State Executive council, under the leadership of Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio, to enable him deliver the dividends of democracy, deepen and sustain the democratic culture as well as ensure good governance. Surely, this worthy style of leadership has brought stability and team spirit to the House. To buttress this undoubted fact, members of the House in a sincere and candid way of showing their support and loyalty, sometime last year, rose in unison and gave vote of confidence to the Rt Honourable Speaker and the entire leadership of the house. Knowing the kind of dirty politics played in some climes, the current war being waged against the speaker by those who dont mean well for the State would have provided enough alibis for his colleagues to upstage him. But, they have proved the critics wrong thereby conveying to doubting Thomases that the House remains infallible. They have chosen to stick together as one indissoluble entity thereby confounding their critics and enemies. It needed to be pointed out that this love for the speaker has deep rooted foundation. It never came overnight. Any regular visitor to the parliament would have noticed the sorry state of that complex before this present House came on board. In fact, the embarrassing dilapidation in and around the complex informed Speaker Ikon to quickly take up challenges and in less than few weeks, posted some astounding results. As we speak, the steps undertook by Speaker Samuel Ikon to re-stategize the Assembly complex have brought positive results. Areas like security, regular sanitation and re-roofing to prevent leakages and ensure all gadgets security and otherwise, of the complex are functional. In all, Elder Sam Ikon has instilled a reign of accountability and transparency never before witnessed in the legislature. At the beginning of his leadership, a lawmaker who volunteered information on condition of anonymity told me that there were initial hiccups of gaining members confidence because many of them never knew his (Speakers) background very well. But, as time went on, the confidence and trust was won and the result is what we are seeing at the moment These and many other innumerable good gestures at the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly are the sins of the Rt. Hon (Elder) Sam Ikon. That is why the hounds are baying for his blood. From all indications, they are in for a shocker as the man in the eye of the storm is poised to continue on this path of bequeathing lasting legacy to posterity. -Henshaw Nyong is an Uyo-based Journalist, Research Writer and Media Consultant .
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 07:36:12 +0000
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