By Stanley Ekpenyong, South South Bureau Chief
Days after accusing the immediate past Governor of the State, Professor Ben Ayade, of incurring huge debt for the State and declaring that the House under his leadership was poised to recover all assets of the State allegedly in possession of the former Governor, the Speaker of Cross River State House of Assembly, Rt.Hon. Elvert Ayambem has lost his position fuelling speculations that his ouster was engineered by loyalists of the former Governor who dominate the House.
Government House sources suggest that Governor Bassey Otu got wind of the plot by some House members to remove the Speaker days before it was actualised but decided to play the ostrich.
For one, Ayambem was not the choice of both the Governor and his successor, Professor Ayade, for the office of the Speaker, hence his surprise emergence as Speaker on June 13, last year shocked both leaders.
Secondly, Governor Otu, still grateful to Professor Ayade for giving him the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress, APC over and above his staunch allies, including the current Senator representing Cross River South in the Senate, Senator Asuquo Ekpenyong, has been very careful not to carry out actions suggestive of a probe of his benefactor’s administration hence the Governor was reportedly rankled when Rt. Hon Ayambem addressed a press conference in Abuja and hinted the House’s resolve to probe the former Governor.
The magazine was told that Governor Otu may have refrained from intervening to save Ayambem to demonstrate that he was not in cahoot with him in the probe quest.
Speaking to newsmen in Abuja last week, the ousted Speaker had said: “The loans that the previous administration acquired have relatively placed us on edge right now. You can’t quantify it because it is much and it is heavy, which is relatively placing the House on an edge.
“We understand that the Governor is going through a lot because of the loans. That is our worries too. I wish the governor we have today came and met a sizable loan that he can repay, it would have helped a great deal. You know he is trying to finish the Airport, that International Cargo Airport in Obudu.
“There is one thing I like so much about the Governor. Do you know as much as most of these projects were done by the previous government, he picks those ones that he knows, these ones are realistic.
“He embarks on them. What is he projecting, continuity. And me too, I went and met him to say, Sir, it’s not every of these projects that were left behind by the former Governor, that you should give a listening ear to.
“And we discovered lately that almost all those ones that are viable were concessioned two days before leaving the office. And who are those people that these projects were concessioned to, you realize that it’s friends and family. But all of them are concessioned to one person. You bring this one, he would say the name of the company is this, this other one the name of the company is this.
“Meanwhile, you have 90 per cent ownership in those companies. I can tell you that in all of these projects you hear about concessioning, no dime was paid into Cross River State Government coffers. Not one dime. Prove me anywhere, not one dime was deposited into Cross River State account.
“Okay, look at Transcorp, Cross River State Government has 30 per cent shares in Transcorp (Metropolitan) Hotel and right now I think my members are on it. The last time they had a meeting with Transcorp, where they interfaced with the management of Transcorp, they could not account for a dime that was paid to Cross River State Government coffers.
“They could not, and now we are hearing they sold it outrightly. Okay if you have sold it outrightly, where is the position of Cross River State Government, the 30 per cent shared that Cross River State government had, was there any seeding off of a dime to its coffers at any time.
“Look at the Garment Factory, the Ogoja Rice Mill and all of that, all of those industries have been concessioned but there is no document anywhere that shows that a dime was deposited into Cross River State Government coffers. Not a dime”, he said.
“There is a whole lot we are doing to fix the problem. For the moment we are taking it gradually but let me give you an inside of it, we have taken down the total numbers of these infrastructures and industries that were concessioned in the previous administration.
“And we are taking them one after the other. At the end of the day, we will revoke all of that nonsense done that they call concession.
“Take it from me, we will revoke all. We will, because you cannot concession any state government infrastructure and don’t deposit a dime into the state government’s coffers. It is not done anywhere in the world.
“You will see faceless people telling you, I am the concessionaire, I don’t understand, when you trace it and go in-depth, you are alarmed with what you would see.
“People would say, ‘he is on vendetta’. No. No person is on any personal vendetta.”
In his 40s, Ayambem who represents Ikom 11 state constituency was early Wednesday impeached by 17 out 25 members of the House.
In an impeachment notice circulated to online news media by the 17 law makers who ousted him, the Speaker was removed on four grounds, bordering on financial misconduct, incompetence and wrong conduct of preliminary proceedings; non-compliance with the Cross River State Legislature Fund Management Law 2021, and total failure to convene a leadership meeting.
“We bring this all important Motion under matters of urgent public importance inline with Order 24 of the Rules of the Cross River State House of Assembly and pursuant to Section 92(2)(C) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as altered.
“Having met the Constitutional requirements of two-third majority, we the under-listed members of the Cross River State House of Assembly hereby pass a vote- of-no- confidence on Rt. Hon. Elvert Ayambem, Speaker of the House of Assembly and he is hereby REMOVED,” a part of the impeachment notice read.
Hon. Ayambem is also accused of misappropriation of the sum of N48,000,000.00 (Forty-Eight Million Naira) meant to pay Electricity bills for the House of Assembly complex and the House of Assembly Quarters.
Misappropriation of 2% of all revenue collected by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) monthly for oversight functions of the House of Assembly in line with Section 18(a)(i) of the Cross River State Revenue Administration Law 2011 as amended to the tune of N404,683,855.10 (Four Hundred and Four Million, Six Hundred and Eighty-Three Thousand, Eight Hundred and Fifty-Five Naira, Ten Kobo),Misappropriation of the sum of N19,437, 844.00 (Nineteen Million, Four Hundred and Thirty-Seven Thousand, Eight Hundred and forty-five Naira) from Local Government deduction and 11 months deductions which he allegedly failed to disclose to members.
Meanwhile, though the 17 lawmakers were yet to name a new Speaker at press time, there are feelers that a ranking House member who is the former Governor’s loyalist, Hon. Hilary Bisong will succeed Ayambem. He was among the 17 members who signed the impeachment notice.
Hon. Bisong who represents Boki state constituency is the son of the Vice Chancellor of University of Calabar, Professor Florence Obi.He lost to Hon. Anyamben in the contest for the Speakership last year.
