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•The intrigues, politics that led to his ouster, reinstatement
By Chidiebere Onyemaizu
But for the intervention of Governor Bassey Otu, the embattled Speaker of Cross River State House of Assembly, Hon. Elvert Ayambem would probably have gone down in Nigeria’s political history as the first head of the legislative arm of government to have convened the House to preside over his own impeachment.
Followers of Cross River politics say the fact that his colleagues’ plot to impeach him was activated under his nose months ago yet Hon.Ayamben did not get wind of it, speaks to his aloofness, unpopularity among House members and alienation from them.
And even when his removal was finally afoot, though seated at the Chamber, the reinstated Speaker was said to be oblivious of the fate that had awaited him until he was pronounced impeached.
At some minutes past 8pm Wednesday, May 22, the House had convened for legislative business for the day and was presided over by Hon Ayambem. No sooner had plenary formalities been concluded than Hon. Effiong Ekarika representing Calabar South took to the floor, read out a litany of alleged impeachable offences committed by the Speaker and then moved a motion for his impeachment. Surprisingly, sitting comfortably on his seat, Ayambem, allowed the motion instead of ruling Hon Ekarika out of order.
Surprisingly again, he allowed the motion to be seconded by Charles Omang representing Bekwara state constituency. With that legislative self- immolation, Ayambem technically supervised and approved his own impeachment, a situation political analysts attribute to his lack of legislative experience.
After successfully impeaching the Speaker, the 17 lawmakers did not immediately elect his replacement.They reportedly decided to the wait for Governor Otu to indicate who his preference was between the two names sent to him.That time lag was however to become Hon. Ayambem’s saving grace for while the lawmakers waited, some National Assembly members from the state who were fully in support of the Speaker’s vow to probe the immediate past governor of the state, Professor Ben Ayade quickly got in touch with Otu and succeeded in arm- twisting him into saving Hon. Ayambem’s skin.
Daily Sun gathered than Otu was presented with two options: Prevail on the state Assembly members to reverse Hon. Ayambem’s impeachment or forget about their support for his second term. An influential opposition National Assembly member from Northern Cross River who the governor was banking on for votes from that part of the state, Daily Sun was informed, was vehement in his demand for the Speaker’s return. Careful not to risk any action that could affect his state- wide popularity and acceptance and by extension his re-election in 2027, the Governor caved in to the blackmail.
Besides financial impropriety, high handedness among other offences the 17 lawmakers who signed the Speaker’s impeachment notice levied against him, Daily Sun gathered that Ayambem’s ouster, it has been alleged, was engineered by some members of Cross River’s political establishment, particularly some APC chieftains who are not comfortable with his emergence as Speaker as well as his recent sabre rattling. Some elders of the state and APC leaders were reportedly concerned that some of the embattled Speaker’s utterances could extensively dislocate the prevailing political harmony in the state. The party chieftains, Daily Sun gathered, were not happy with the ex-Speaker’s press conference in Abuja few weeks back where he declared that the House under his leadership was poised to probe the administration of former Governor Ayade.
They felt that such move would not only create schism in the party but overheat the polity and distract Governor Otu from his set goals of giving Cross Riverians quality governance. “His Excellency’s immediate concern now is fulfilling his promises to the people and delivering to them the gains of his People First Agenda which underpins the policy of his government; His Excellency does not need any distraction at this point”, a party stalwart who pleaded for anonymity told Daily Sun.
Many in the state view Ayambem’s probe move as getting back at the former governor who he perceived as having worked against his emergence as Speaker.
Ayambem, Daily Sun was informed, was indeed not the choice of the former governor and his successor, Governor Otu, for the position of Speaker, hence his emergence against pundits’ permutations were said to have shocked both leaders.
Having emerged without the anointing of Cross River’s political leaders, the deposed Speaker, often described himself as “a son of a nobody”, to drive home his underdog rating during the race for the Speakership. He has equally been projecting himself as a David who vanquished many Goliaths that amassed against him.
Consequently, the reinstated Speaker allegedly utilized every opportunity of public speech to try to throw jabs at the former Governor Ayade.
An insider told Daily Sun that matters came to a head during the burial of the former governor’s father in-law in Obudu, Northern Cross River last month. Governor Otu, his Deputy, Rt.Hon Peter Odey and other top functionaries of the government were billed to attend the burial but the ex Speaker reportedly maintained he would not attend. It took the intervention of a close associate of his to persuade him to attend.The said associate had told Hon. Ayambem that his absence at the burial would look awkward and would be interpreted as a personal fight against the former governor.
Things however, took a dramatic turn at the burial when an Ayade loyalist confronted the Speaker and thoroughly tongue lashed him, accusing him of fighting the ex governor unjustly and warned that nobody had ever fought the Ayades and won.
Weeks after the open rebuke, apparently determined to exert a pound of flesh, Hon. Ayambem made an appearance in Abuja where he announced the probe intention.This fuelled speculations that loyalists of the former governor may have carried out the Wednesday impeachment to punish him( Ayambem) for fighting their principal. A 25-member House, 80 percent of the lawmakers are in their 30s and 40s and had climbed up the political ladder by the virtue of Ayade’s deliberate policy, as governor, to encourage and support young people attain leadership positions.
Recall that Ayambem had, at a press conference in Abuja recently, among other things, accused former Governor Ayade of incurring huge debts for the state. His words: “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 share 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.”
The impeachment notice circulated to online news media minutes after he was impeached indicated that Hon. Ayambem 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.
The notice reads in part: “we bring this all important Motion under matters of urgent public importance in line 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 a two-thirds majority, we the under-listed members of the Cross River State House of Assembly hereby pass a vote- of- confidence on Rt. Hon. Elvert Ayambem, Speaker of the House of Assembly and he is hereby REMOVED”.
Hon. Ayambem is also accused of misappropriation of the sum of N48,000,000.00 (Forty-Eight Million Naira) meant to pay Nepa bills for the House of Assembly complex and the House of Assembly Quarters.
Misappropriation of two percent 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-ThreeThousand, 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, the camp of former Governor Ayade has since denied complicity in Hon. Ayambem’s Wednesday impeachment. Egbelo Edward Ntebri, head of the Ayade Media office told Daily Sun that it is laughable to link the impeachment to his principal. “We are talking about a man who just left office as governor after eight years, a man who has been a Senator, an erudite scholar, what business does he have with Cross River’s House Speakership? Does he want to be Speaker after being a Senator and Governor? It is an insult to link him with what transpired in the House of Assembly, it is laughable that people are making unnecessary insinuations, creating non existing nexus between the impeachment and His Excellency. He has no hand in it. The offences for which the 17 lawmakers moved against the Speaker are there in the public domain for every one to see and the so called probe of the last administration is not one of the offences” , Ntebri said.
Similarly, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Otu , Nsa Gil, has dismissed the notion that the governor had given a tacit approval to the impeachment on the ground that Ayambem was not his choice the position of Speaker. “These are mere insinuations and they hold no water. His Excellency, Governor Bassey Otu is a staunch believer in the independence of the legislature and Judiciary which are separate arms of government. He has nothing to do with the internal affairs of the Cross River State House of Assembly”
Hon. Ayambem, in his 40s and represents Ikom 2 constituency. Shortly after the 17 Assembly members announced his impeachment, he swiftly described the action as fake and urged the public to ignore what had transpired on the floor of the House. This was contained in a press release by his Press Secretary, Mathew Okache.
“The Cross River State House of Assembly has been alerted to false news reports that the Cross River State House of Assembly Speaker, Rt Hon. Elvert Ayambem, has been impeached.
“To be clear, the Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly is without a doubt Rt. Hon Elvert Ayambem and that is the current position. What happened earlier today (Wednesday) during the plenary, when Hon. Effiong Ekarika, 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 of Assembly 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 fake news and dismiss any notion of a crisis. The status quo is that Rt Hon Elvert Ayambem is the Speaker of the House of Assembly.
“Mr. Speaker, Rt. Hon. Elvert Ayambem remains unconcerned and determined to elevate the Cross River State House of Assembly and support the Executive arm of government, led by His Excellency, Sen. Prince Bassey Edet Otu, in achieving the people’s first mantra”, the release said.
Had Hon. Ayambem’s impeachment not been reversed, Hon. Hilary Bisong, a ranking member representing Boki 2 constituency, analyst say, was in a good stead to replace him. “Hilary Bisong was already gearing up for coronation before political intrigues forced our governor to prevail on House members to backtrack”, a senior government official who asked not to be named “because of the sensitivity of the present situation” told Daily Sun. Hon. Bisong who is the son of the Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar, Professor Florence Obi had contested the position last year but lost to the now reinstated Speaker.
