Twenty-eight out of the twenty-nine suspended magistrates in Cross River state Judiciary have raised an alarm over plan by one of them allegedly colluding with the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Tanko Ashang to misinform the public through a letter to the governor stating that they have agreed to forfeit their two years salaries owed by the state government.
In a press release signed by the leaders of the magistrates Solomon Abou and Arit Edem on behalf of the twenty seven others, the judicial officers urged the public to disregard the purported letter if any, saying their position on the issue to the government of Cross River state was that they should be paid one year in lump sum for one year while the remaining one year can be paid instalmentally.
Speaking with reporters to confirm the letter,Abuo who condemn any attempt to hoodwink the public over their position ,called on Governor Ben Ayade and other top government officials to disregard such letter if any from a pseudo group in the name of the affected magistrates.
“It has been brought to our notice that a colleague of ours in collusion with the Attorney-General of our State is scheming to write a letter with the name of at least 20 of us and send same to the Governor as representing those who have accepted to forfeit their 2 years salaries.
“We wish to set the records straight by stating that, on Tuesday, 19/1/2021, we held an emergency meeting where we resolved that we were not going to forfeit our 24 months salaries as proposed by the Attorney-General.
“Sequel to this, we wrote a letter dated 19/1/2021 to the Governor through the Attorney-General where we clearly refused to accede to that request but rather, stated inter alia as follows:
“Your Excellency, nevertheless, we are open to accept a one (1) year lump sum payment and thereafter, the balance could be staggard in subsequent months.”
“However, the Attorney-General refused to receive and transmit this letter to the Governor.
Thus, we are by this press release notifying the press & the general public to disregard any statement or documents expressing a different position from that which we hold unless it is duly signed by my humble self and/or my colleague, Arit Edem, Esq, the only recognised representatives of the 29 Magistrates appointed from the private Bar in February 2019.
Efforts to speak with the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice In Cross River State,Tanko Ashang, whose name was mentioned by the suspended magistates, was not successful,as his phone was switched off as at time of filing this report.
