{"id":152852,"date":"2025-02-26T18:13:35","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T17:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/cross-river-controversy-over-suspension-arrest-of-legislative-member"},"modified":"2025-02-27T23:03:53","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T22:03:53","slug":"cross-river-controversy-over-suspension-arrest-of-legislative-member","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cross-river-controversy-over-suspension-arrest-of-legislative-member","title":{"rendered":"Cross River: Controversy over suspension, arrest of legislative member"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>There is fury in Cross River State over the reported suspension and arrest of Hon Kingsley Agbor Ekuri, the Councilor representing Ajassor Ward in Etung Local Government Area, by the state House of Assembly.<\/p>\n

The Etung Legislative Council reportedly suspended Ekuri over alleged misconduct, insubordination, and threats to the peace of the local government.<\/p>\n

According to reports, Ekuri allegedly challenged the Chairman of Etung LGA, Hon. Henry Njar Anom, over revenue allocation, assaulted the Special Adviser on Security to the Chairman, and showed blatant disrespect to the Leader of the Council.<\/p>\n

However, speaking to reporters, Ekuri denied assaulting the council chairman but admitted that he had raised questions over revenue allocations.<\/p>\n

The state House of Assembly upheld the suspension and ordered his arrest yesterday.<\/p>\n

Reacting to the development, APC stalwart and former presidential adviser, Chief Okoi Obono-Obla, accused the Assembly of being dictatorial.<\/p>\n

Obono-Obla denounced the Assembly\u2019s decision to suspend Ekuri.<\/p>\n

In a statement, he said, \u201cI\u2019m deeply concerned about the Cross River State House of Assembly\u2019s recent actions. By ordering the arrest of an Etung Legislative Council member and suspending him, the Assembly is behaving more like a dictatorship than a representative body.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir power to regulate Local Government Councils doesn\u2019t justify treating the Etung Legislative Council as an appendage. I strongly condemn this undemocratic behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

He explained that local government areas are constitutionally recognized as a tier of government and should, therefore, be granted independence and the unfettered freedom to run their affairs.<\/p>\n

He added that the House of Assembly\u2019s interference in local government council affairs in the state was suffocating.<\/p>\n

Ekuri was arrested shortly after the hearing Tuesday.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. There is fury in Cross River State over the reported suspension and arrest of Hon Kingsley Agbor Ekuri, the Councilor representing Ajassor Ward in Etung Local Government Area, by the state House of Assembly. The Etung Legislative Council reportedly suspended Ekuri over alleged misconduct, insubordination, and threats to the peace of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":152851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[649,254],"class_list":["post-152852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-cross-river","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"\nCross River: Controversy over suspension, arrest of legislative member - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There is fury in Cross River State over the reported suspension and arrest of Hon Kingsley Agbor Ekuri, the Councilor re ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cross-river-controversy-over-suspension-arrest-of-legislative-member\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cross River: Controversy over suspension, arrest of legislative member\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There is fury in Cross River State over the reported suspension and arrest of Hon Kingsley Agbor Ekuri, the Councilor re ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cross-river-controversy-over-suspension-arrest-of-legislative-member\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-26T17:13:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-27T22:03:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1740583147.718917.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cross-river-controversy-over-suspension-arrest-of-legislative-member#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cross-river-controversy-over-suspension-arrest-of-legislative-member\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Cross River: Controversy over suspension, arrest of legislative member\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-26T17:13:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-27T22:03:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cross-river-controversy-over-suspension-arrest-of-legislative-member\"},\"wordCount\":297,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cross-river-controversy-over-suspension-arrest-of-legislative-member#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/02\/sm_1740583147.718917.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Cross River\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cross-river-controversy-over-suspension-arrest-of-legislative-member#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cross-river-controversy-over-suspension-arrest-of-legislative-member\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/cross-river-controversy-over-suspension-arrest-of-legislative-member\",\"name\":\"Cross River: Controversy over suspension, arrest of legislative member - 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