On Wednesday, the Cross River House of Assembly impeached the Speaker, Mr Elvert Anyambem, over gross misconduct and high-handedness.

The speaker’s impeachment was carried out during a plenary of the house in which he presided over.

The impeachment followed a motion moved by the member representing Calabar South I, Effiong Ekarika, which Charles Omang, representing the Bekwara constituency, seconded.

The motion was after that unanimously supported by other members of the house present at the sitting.

Moving his motion, Mr Ekarika stated that Anyambem had grossly indulged in administrative misconduct, high-handedness and financial misappropriation.

Seventeen out of 25 legislators signed the notice for the speaker’s impeachment.

In the notice, Mr Anyambem was said to have indulged in arbitrary expenditure, contrary to section 9(1) of the state Legislative Funds Management Law, 2021.

The notice stated that the speaker misappropriated N48 million, which was meant to pay the assembly’s electricity bills.

He was also accused of misappropriating N404.6 million, representing two per cent of the monthly revenue collected by the state Internal Revenue Service and meant for oversight functions of the assembly.

“The speaker misappropriated the sum of N19.4m being deductions from the local government councils, which he willfully failed to disclose to members,” the notice said.

After the impeachment, the mace was taken away by the members.

The speaker declined to comment on his impeachment.

(NAN)