*All Eyes on Elvert Ayambem: Will the Speaker Uphold the Law or Bow to Pressure?*
As the Deputy Clerk’s office stays vacant, power brokers push illegal options — and the integrity of the House hangs in the balance.
The Cross River State House of Assembly has arrived at a decisive moment; and one that will either reinforce the sanctity of its laws or expose the depth of internal rot gnawing at its foundation. Over a year and seven months after the incumbent Clerk, Barr. Catherine Ubi was sworn in on April 26, 2024, the Office of the Deputy Clerk remains mysteriously and dangerously vacant. Could this be deliberate?
This is not just an administrative oversight. It is a constitutional breach unfolding in broad daylight. It is an institutional scheme and a prejudicial stratagem to deny someone that has grown in service his place according to extant laws.
Section 18(1) of the Cross River State House of Assembly Service Commission Law (2020) is unambiguous: the Assembly must have three Deputy Clerks, drawn strictly from its own legislative cadre — officers who hold the rank of Director and possess at least five years of legislative experience.
But instead of following the law, subterranean interests have allegedly launched a campaign to smuggle in one Mrs. Itam Offor, an information officer who is neither a legislative officer nor an Assembly staff. Her entire service has been in the Ministry of Information, where she rose to Director in that same non-legislative role.
If the law is not yet repealed or amended, then, she does not meet the law. She does not fit the criteria. She has no chamber experience. Yet she is being pushed aggressively for a position meant for trained legislative professionals. Mr. Speaker must not take action that tends to weaken the institution.
Meanwhile, insiders point to Mr. Patrick Atsu, Director of Legislative Matters, as the most qualified and experienced officer in the legislative cadre — a man whose entire career has been built within the Assembly’s procedural and administrative structure.
The question now is simple: Will Speaker Elvert Ayambem do the right thing or allow himself to be boxed into illegality?
Legislative work is not guesswork. A Deputy Clerk is not a figurehead. This is the officer who controls chamber proceedings, interprets rules, guides debates, and maintains order when the Clerk is absent. It is not a job for anyone drifting in through the backdoor from another ministry.
Therefore, the Speaker must understand the weight of this moment. His next move will be recorded in the institutional memory of the Assembly either as a courageous stand for due process or as a capitulation to subterranean pressures.
The law is clear. The vacancy is dangerous. The manipulation is obvious. The delay is unacceptable. And the responsibility rests squarely on his shoulders. All eyes are indeed on Rt. Hon. Elvert Ayambem. The people are watching. The Assembly is watching. History is watching.
It is time for the Speaker to choose: Uphold the law or bow to pressure. There is no middle ground.
Comr. Ogar Emmanuel Oko
Secretary, Probity and Transparency for Cross River
