Hon Onofiok Akpan Luke is the member representing Etinan/Nsit Ibom/ Nsit Ubium Federal Constituency of Akwa Ibom State in the House of Representatives.
Hon Luke is the House Committee Chairman on Judiciary.
A member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), he was a former Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and pioneer Speaker of the Nigeria Youth Parliament.
On Friday, November 27, 2020, the federal lawmaker was guest at the November congress meeting of the Akwa Ibom State council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Uyo, the capital city of the state.
In his address to members of the fourth estate of the realm in that state, the fiery politician gave a swift rundown of his political life, ideology and accomplishments as a lawmaker and representative of his constituents.
One of the cardinal points he made in his presentation was the fact that critical issues of national development always require dispassionate and non-partisan approach from representatives across party lines to resolve.
He said for the country to make progress, matters of national development required bipartisan approach and expressed regrets that his critics expect him, as a PDP member, to oppose every issue introduced in the House by APC lawmakers.
The trained lawyer submitted that such critics do not mean well for the wellbeing of the country and the generality of the citizenry who are the ultimate beneficiaries of the business of the lawmakers.
“What my critics don’t understand is that, at the national level, bipartisan approach to governance is essential, if not pivotal.
“Your ability to coalesce the inputs of various stakeholders, regardless of party affiliations to drive home the interest of your constituency is a necessary survival instinct.
“You cannot be defining PDP/APC when there are pressing topical national issues seeking attention and legislations. Acknowledging this should not suddenly make you disloyal to your party,” he said, arguing that “Today, with this bipartisan approach to politics, I have advocated the granting of licence for the operation of Ibom Deep Seaport, reviving of Aluminum Smelter Company in Ikot Abasi, and the creation of a division of the Court of Appeal in Uyo”.
For all intents and purposes, representative Luke’s philosophy is as much needed at the national level as it is required at other levels of government, including the state and local councils, and by all political office holders for the benefit and over all development of the people on whose behalf they are in office.
Especially for some Rivers State politicians and political office holders, this is particularly instructive and one cannot but urge them to let the interest of the people’s wellbeing and welfare override their personal, sectional, party and sundry considerations.
The recent refusal by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi to be part of the South-South stakeholders meeting with the presidential delegation at Government House in Port Harcourt is one case in point of how not to behave as a political leader and a representative of the people even in appointive position, many people think.
Reacting to that unfortunate development, a faction of his own party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Rivers State, expressed disappointment at the Minister’s boycott of the meeting and called on him to render an unreserved apology to Rivers people (whom he represents as Minister) and the APC (over which he reigns as political godfather and leader in the zone).
In a release issued by the Igo Aguma-led faction of the APC in Port Harcourt, the party disclosed that Amaechi received the presidential delegation led by the Chief of Staff to the President, Amb Ibrahim Gambari at the Port Harcourt International Airport, but later “disappeared”.
The statement reads in part, “Information available to the APC in the state is that the Minister of Transportation, Rt Hon Rotimi Amaechi was at the airport in Port Harcourt to receive the presidential delegation, escorted them to the venue of the meeting, disappeared and was never part of such a critical stakeholders meeting that has to do with the South-South geo-political zone.
“The absence of the Minister of Transportation, Rt Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, who is supposed to be the minister representing Rivers State in the Federal Cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari, is most unfortunate, as there can be no justification for his non-participation.
“This is because there can be no plausible reason for his disappearance from such an important meeting of the leadership of the South-South and the Presidency aimed at discussing issues affecting our region.
“The action of the godfather of the APC in Rivers State, Rt Hon Rotimi Amaechi is an evidence of the type of leadership he is giving the APC in the state, which is solely aimed at destroying the party at all cost for his personal gain in keeping with his vows”.
While the bold and courageous stance of the APC in Rivers State in pointing out the grievous error of their leader is worthy of commendation, the message must be taken to all other politicians in the state who have continued to equate their private interest with the interest of the state in general. There are yet many politicians who see service to themselves as service to the state and have continued to wage a war with the present administration in the state only because their private interests are not being served.
Politics, they say, is a game of interest. While this may be true, the question is: whose interest is politics meant to serve, public or private? The point remains that while politics may serve private interest as well, the private interests that politics is meant to serve are only those that align and fully given to the benefit, promotion and furtherance of the public good.
It is against this backdrop that Rivers people must begin to take notice of those who ride on their back to office, only to leave them in the lurch and relegate issues concerning their welfare and wellbeing to the background.
The point cannot be overstressed that continued bickering and bitter political rivalry after elections have been lost and won and a government legitimately put in place to run the affairs of the state amount not only to a disservice to the people but also a declaration of a position of enmity against the people and the state.
As Hon Luke noted, all political office holders and indeed politicians worthy of the enterprise, whether elected or appointed, and at all levels, must purge themselves of selfishness, pride, arrogance, undue partisanship and such other debilitating tendencies in order to qualify as leaders in name and in fact.
Going forward, the only consideration that ought to confer legitimacy on any political leader in Rivers State should be what they have to show as their contributions to the overall development of the state through the instrumentality of their previously held political offices and not how loudly they criticised, how stoutly they antagonised or how bitterly they fought the governor and government of the day because indeed the state is bigger and greater than any one person, section or political party.

By: Opaka Dokubo