These are not the best of times for the Speaker of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Onofiok Luke as he just escaped impeachment. Ever since he took over the leadership of the House, there have been several attempts to sack him.

Be that as it may, his political enemies in the House suffered defeat in this recent plot to remove him as the House has sacked Deputy House Leader and the Deputy Chief Whip, Mr. Aniekan Bassey and Mr. Nse Essien from Uruan and Onna.

The leadership change was due to a letter signed by 17 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the House and addressed to Speaker Onofiok Luke, demanding a change in the two offices.

Insiders told us that the sacked officers were in the forefront of a move to impeach Luke. Now, the new deputy leader of the House is now Ime Okon, representing Ibiono Ibom State Constituency, while David Lawrence of Eket State Constituency has taken over as the deputy chief whip.