C’River Assembly impeaches Speaker as CPS debunks devt 

The Cross River State House of Assembly Speaker, Elvert Anyambem, has been impeached. The impeachment, which occurred during plenary in the early hours of yesterday, followed a motion of urgent public interest moved by the member representing Calabar South 1 State Constituency, Effiong Ekarika, and seconded by the member representing Bekwarra State Constituency, Charles Omang.
  
According to an impeachment letter signed by 17 of the 25 members of the House, which was read by Omang, the Speaker was removed because of gross misconduct, financial misappropriation, administrative high-handedness, and incompetence, among others.
 
He said that the Speaker’s removal from office is in line with Order 24 of rules of the Cross River State House of Assembly and under Section 92 (2XC) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as altered.  
  
He said: “Having met the Constitutional requirement of a two-third majority, we, the under-listed members of the Cross River State House of Assembly, hereby pass a vote-of-no-confidence on Elvert Ayambem, Speaker of the House of Assembly and is hereby removed.
   
The lawmakers accused the Speaker of misappropriating N48 million meant for the payment of electricity bills of the Assembly complex and quarters.They also accused him of misappropriation of two per cent of revenues collected by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) monthly for oversight functions of the House, 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, misappropriation of the sum of N19,437,844 from local council deductions and 11 months deductions, which he willfully failed to disclose to members.

MEANWHILE, a statement issued yesterday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker, Matthew Okache, denied the impeachment report.  Okacha described the news of the impeachment of the Speaker as false, noting that Ayambem remains the Speaker of Cross River State House of Assembly.
  
He said: “To be clear, the Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly is without a doubt Elvert Ayambem, and that is the current position. What happened earlier today (Wednesday) during the plenary, when Effiong Akarika, a member representing Calabar South 1, disrupted the session by inviting hoodlums to enter the chamber, is a ridiculous charade with no constitutional basis.
   
“The House is not aware of any impeachment notices being served to anyone before the frivolous act, as witnessed at the chambers. The alleged impeachment and replacement are speculative, and the general public is urged to disregard the fake news and dismiss any notion of a crisis. The status quo is that Ayambem is the Speaker of the state Assembly.”