The member representing Bekwarra State constituency, Hon Charles Omang KSM, has stated that despite insinuations and misconception that the 10th Cross River State House of Assembly wants to silence critics, on account of the summon of Mr Ejim Jonny Agogo, who alleged in a viral video that his house of assembly member, Hon Charles Omang and his colleagues at the Cross River State House of Assembly, receives 6.8M as monthly salary apart from constituency and other allowances.
Responding to questions from TheLumineNews, Hon Omang noted that the video which was played in a church in Bekwarra Local Government Area, has spread bad blood among his constituents which increased the routine requests for financial assistance, has however put him and his colleagues in the negative light before their constituents.
The lawmaker explained that “In the assembly, we took it very seriously because that is far from reality. The salary of a state house member is in the public domain since 1999. It has never been reviewed.
When he made findings, he was told that our salary is #680,000.00 and he mischievously added one zero to the figure to pitch our constituents against us. It is not just about me here, it is about the entire assembly.
“The assembly is not detaining him or sending him to any prison as wrongly speculated. We want him to come and tell us how he got that figure as our salary. If he cannot substantiate his claim, we ask him to retract his comments using the same energy he used to create the video, and that will end the matter”.
The lawmaker stated that just very recently that they noticed an increment of #60,000.00 in the salary, and wondered why his constituents resorted to such a blackmail.
Omang further disclosed that he played a very significant role to restore normalcy in the feud between the Chairman and councillors in Bekwarra last month, but that the said Mr Ejim Jonny Agogo, who hails from the same village with him Ukpah, claimed that he is among the persons sponsoring the councillors against the chairman of council.
“This guy has been in this act to ruin my reputation. At some point, I called his elder brother’s attention to what he says and writes about me.
“I was not hungry when I came into the state house of assembly. I have a law firm in Abuja and I was doing well for myself. I came into the assembly because I have always wanted to serve my people. But I can tell you that as assembly members, all is not well with us as people speculate. You can find out from your state constituency member, the deputy speaker. The pressure from personal, family and constituents responsibilities far outweigh our income”.
Hon Omang noted that “I’m always available to provide information about the operations of the assembly and not for anyone to use falsehood to create rifts between us and our constituents that are unnecessary”.
Meanwhile, the Cross River State House of Assembly has received widespread criticism for summoning Mr Ejim Jonny Agogo, for raising false alarm on the monthly salary of assembly members.
Majority to those who have aired their views, suggested that the assembly was supposed to have issues a rejoinder other than the summon.