Politics
How LP’s Emeruwa emerged speaker of Abia House of Assembly
From PETER OKORE, Umuahia
The hopes of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to control the 8th Abia House of Assembly hit the rocks, Wednesday, June 14, 2023, when a fresh legislator, Mr. Emmanuel Emeruwa of the Labour Party, LP, representing Aba-South state constituency in the House, was unanimously nominated and elected as Speaker by the majority of the House members of the 8th Abia House.
Having lost the executive position of Abia state to Labour Party, PDP went to town with campaigns of calumny and distraction to canvass for the controll of the 8th Abia House, relying on the House ranking rule and numerical strength as a force to capture the position of the speaker.
Here , it may be necessary to explain that for political conveniences, House ranking policy forbids non-ranking lawmakers from occupying the seat of House Speaker.
But the plenary session of the House that day , presided over by the Clerk of the House, John-Pedro Irokansi, apparently set aside the House rule on ranking and affirmed a fresh lawmaker to take charge of the 8th Abia House.
The session that produced the House functionaries followed the proclamation of the House earlier by the state governor, Mr. Alex Otti.
Following this unexpected drama that ensued in the House, Mr. Austin Nmeregini, who represents Umuahia East state constituency and also of Labour Party, was nominated and affirmed Deputy Speaker of the 8th Abia House.
By this development , the ruling LP successfully upstaged the main opposition PDP which commands a slim majority in the 8th Abia House
Emeruwa, who is a former executive chairman of Aba South Local Government Area, was nominated for the post of speaker by Mr. Stephen Ucheonye, who represents Aba Central state constituency.
However, the 24-member House is composed of 11 members from the PDP, 10 members from LP , while two lawmakers belong to the Young Progressives Party (YPP), while the All Progressives Congress (APC) has one member.
BusinessHallmark understands that the issue of which party, between PDP and LP, should produce the Speaker had led to the failure of the earlier proposed date for the inauguration of the 8th House last Tuesday.
It was gathered that some form of compromise was reached amongst the lawmakers, following their meeting with Governor Otti of the labour party. The outcome of that meeting ,eventually, paved the way for the formal inauguration of the 8th Abia House.
Addressing the lawmakers after their inauguration, Otti urged the legislators to bear in mind that the expectations of Abia people are high; hence the need to work hard for their interest. He reiterated that his government would not tolerate excuses and extended his hand of fellowship to them asking for collective efforts to provide dividends of democracy to Abia people.
The Governor enjoined them to have their constituents at the back of their minds as they did not make themselves and congratulated them on their elections and inauguration.
In his acceptance speech, the new Speaker, Mr. Emeruwa pledged that he would lead the House without prejudice, adding he would serve with unwavering dedication and make people-oriented laws.
The Clerk of the Abia State House of Assembly, Mr. Johnpedro Irokansi had earlier administered the oath of office and oath of allegiance on both the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker as well as other House functionaries.
