Oyama, Obono-Obla demand transparency, accountability on Cross River LG expenditures

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Akpan David, Calabar

A storm of public criticism is rising over alleged massive financial impropriety in Cross River State’s 18 local government councils, with rights activist Prince Odey Oyama and legal practitioner Okoi Obono-Obla accusing council authorities of waste and lack of transparency.

Oyama, a human rights and environmental defender, in a statement made available to journalists in Calabar, questioned the utilization of over ₦3.7 billion said to have accrued to Ikom Local Government Area from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) between November 2024 and June 2025.

He said despite the huge inflow, visible projects in Ikom were “worth less than ₦50 million,” describing the development as a gross abuse of public trust.
Oyama urged the Ikom Council Chairman to publish her administration’s blueprint, budget, and financial records in line with transparency and accountability standards.

According to him, “The need for the publication of the budget and receipts from FAAC by the Chairman is for the collective interest of the Ikom people and transparency.”

He confirmed that copies of his petition had been sent to the President, EFCC, ICPC, IGP, and the Press for further action.
Similarly, Obono-Obla, a former presidential aide, lamented that allocations to councils in Cross River—which have risen astronomically since 2023—“have been wasted and are nowhere to be found.”

He accused council authorities of turning the grassroots administration into “hotbeds of cultism, retrogression, decay, nepotism, incompetence, and cluelessness,” stressing that the system was in dire need of reform.

Obono-Obla urged the state government to stop meddling in council affairs and allow them to function as genuine development centres.

“Local government area councils should become hubs of development that break the countryside free from the shackles of decay, scandalous underdevelopment, and chaotic poverty,” he said.

Reviewing the one-year performance of the councils, Obono-Obla delivered a damning verdict, describing them as being “characterised by planlessness, hopelessness, purposelessness, rudderlessness, and governance of the worst and most unimaginable magnitude.”

Observers say the mounting criticisms have reignited public demand for a forensic audit of all 18 local government councils in Cross River State to determine how billions of naira in federal allocations have been managed.

Reacting to different misdemeanors in some local government councils, which time he accepted the resignation of the Local Government Service Commission Chairman, Mr. Darlington Bassey Eyo, the governor said that his administration will not tolerate corruption or any act capable of undermining public trust.

“No individual, no matter their position, will be allowed to stain the integrity of our government.”
Otu said findings were established regarding gross misconduct and employment racketeering in the Commission.