Cross River Assembly Speaker, Elvert Ayambem impeached
The Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly, Elvert Ayambem, has been impeached over an allegation of financial misappropriation.
The impeachment of Ayambem, which resulted in a free-for-all in the hallowed chambers of the House over the mace, the symbol of authority of the House, brought to an abrupt end Wednesday’s sitting, as 17 out of the 25-member Assembly impeached the former Speaker.
The motion for Ayambem’s impeachment was moved by Effiom Ekarika, representing Calabar South 1 state constituency, and seconded by Hon. Omang Charles Omang, representing Bekwarra state constituency.
Rt Hon Elvert Ayambem was elected Speaker of the 10th Cross River State House of Assembly in June 2023.
Ayambem represents Ikom 2 State Constituency in the Houses of Assembly.
A rowdy session ensued after Ayambem was impeached.
One of the lawmakers made a dash for the mace, which is the symbol of authority of the speaker.
However, the legislator with the mace refused to let go, leading to a struggle and a brawl in the the chamber.
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The lawmakers cited four grounds on which they decided to impeach the speaker.
These include gross financial misconduct, incompetence, noncompliance with legislative laws, and failure to convene leadership meetings as the grounds for his removal.
On impropriety, the lawmakers accused him of inability to account for N48 million meant for electricity bills and over N404 million from the Internal Revenue Service designated for oversight functions.
They also alleged that the Assembly leadership has not been able to account for N20 million from local government deductions.
Those who impeached him also alleged incompetence and wrong conduct of plenary proceedings.
They further accused him of appointing members to move or second motions, rather than following the democratic practice of allowing members to volunteer.
According to the angry legislators, Ayambem did not comply with legislative laws.
They said he also violated the Cross River State Legislature Funds Management Law of 2021 by his arbitrary approval of expenditures beyond his authorized limit and the refusal to inaugurate the Legislative Funds Management Committee.
The fourth and final ground of his impeachment is the total failure to convene leadership meetings, with only one such meeting held in the past 11 months.
“This lack of engagement has been perceived as a neglect of duty and a failure to foster collaborative governance within the House.”
The opposing lawmakers displayed documents from the Internal Revenue Service and photographs of a luxurious house under construction allegedly funded by embezzled funds, saying these further tainted the reputation of the former Speaker.
In the last few months, Ayambem led the vanguard to attack, probe and ridicule former governor, Prof Ben Ayade over his style of governance, alleged diversions of state resources and concessions of factories he built for himself and cronies.
He also recovered State properties, vehicles, and tractors which he alleged were stolen by Ayade and his officials.
