Cross River State Assembly Speaker Honourable Elvert Ayambem has reiterated that he remains the speaker of the house despite the impeachment claims.
Ayambem was impeached by 17 out of 25 members of the Cross River State House of Assembly during the plenary on Wednesday.
In a statement released by the Chief press secretary to the speaker, Mr Matthew Okacha, the action has been described as “ridiculous charade with no constitutional basis.”
He however argued that the house members including the speaker were not notified of any impeachment process and hence made it unconstitutional and void he asked member of the public to discard what he described as ‘false news’.
The statement read, “The Cross River State House of Assembly has been alerted of the 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 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 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.
