DAILY POST reporter, who visited the Assembly on Monday, observed that the Honourable members boycotted the chambers, protesting the non-provision of their entitlements including allowances and vehicles.
The members, our findings revealed were scheduled to reconvene on Monday, September 16, 2019 after a month recess but they were not seen at the Chamber of the House.
A staff, who pleaded anonymity, said that the members had earlier made their demands known to the executive arm of government but nothing positive comes their ways.
“Ever since the House was inaugurated, members statutory allowances and other entitlements have not been paid, hence the sit at their offices protest.
“The refusal to reconvene is in protest over the non-payment of their statutory finances by the Cross River State Government dating back to when the Assembly was inaugurated,” the staff stated.
Our source further lamented that the state government was yet to make official vehicles available to members to help them function effectively and efficiently in the discharge of their duty to their immediate constituencies.
Efforts to speak with some members yielded no positive results as some of them maintained sealed lips. The Cross River State House of Assembly is made of 25 members, all of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
Sadly, the Press Secretary to the Speaker of the CRSHA, Mr Hope Obeten, however, denied knowledge of any protest, saying, “The House was supposed to sit on the 10th of September, but they couldn’t because most of the principal officers including the Speaker and Deputy Speaker went for a conference in Abuja.
“Many of them just came back and are in their offices. Their non reconvening today has nothing to do with non payment of allowances or issuance of official vehicles,” Obeten explained.
