By Archibong Jeremiah, House Of Assembly Correspondent
Hon. Elucate Ekom Okora, Chairman Cross River State House of Assembly Committee on Judiciary, Public Service Matters, Public Petitions and Conflict Resolution has disclosed to CrossRiverWatch that his committee is currently investigating a petition against the State Surveyor General, Surveyor Eyo Oku.
Elucate made this known to our House of Assembly Correspondent recently while giving update on his committee’s work so far.
Describing the petition as a ‘public interest petition’ he said: “We have a petition alleging money laundering against the Surveyor General of the State, I have gone through the petition line by line and I discovered that we need to do a thorough job on it so that we can go to the facts.
“The case of money laundering and high level of corruption in Cross River State is intolerable against the background of our dwindling economic fortunes, so for a public officer to be merged in such criminal corrupt practices, the House has to do thorough investigation about it”.
The Obubra 2 State constituency representative who didn’t give much insight on the content of the petition or details of the petitioners went on to say that, “The office of the Surveyor General has so much to offer in terms of revenue generation and for leakages, as a chief executive, it becomes serious. At this stage it is not to say the chief executive is culpable until we get our facts right.”
Pledging that his Committee will stick to its mandate irrespective of who is involved in whatever case, he revealed that people often question his capacity to head such technical Committee wanting to know if he has any legal background, not minding that the House found him fit for the job. He vowed that those questions won’t deter him from delivering on his mandate.
When CrossRiverWatch contacted the Surveyor General, Eyo Oku in his residence, he simply said: “I have not been officially informed about the petition, I don’t know the content or the petitioners. I can’t talk on it.”