CALABAR– The newly elected speaker of the Cross-River State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Elvert Ayambem has called on youths of Cross River State to shun all forms of criminalities and violence, stating that poverty is not an excuse to indulge in any form of criminality
Ayambem who was speaking at his reception party organized to appreciate family members, friends and well-wishers who attended his swearing-in ceremony revealed that he would have been a hardened Criminal if he had allowed his poor family background influence his choices in life while growing up.
Recalling how he struggled to write the West African Council Examination by menial jobs such as fetching firewood from the forest and carrying out other, he said he never believed he will ever amount to anything in life talk more of becoming a speaker of the Assembly,
“…In my little days of growing up from the humble background I come from, if somebody has told me I was going to amount to anything in life, I would argue because I didnt see the possibility. I remember after my Primary education, I got to secondary school and it was time to write the Wes African Examination Council Exams and my poor father didnt have money for it. I knew the length I went to raise money. The hewing of woods, carrying of sands, tilling of lands just to write WAEC, but today the story has changed.” He said.
The lawmaker, therefore, called on young people to shun all forms of violence and criminalities arguing that poverty shouldnt be a yardstick to be criminally minded as his humble background would have led him into criminality but not for the fear of God in him and his determination to succeed in life.
He added that his saving grace is the advice and principles he got from his father who taught him to be contented with whatever he has and not to cheat anyone.
“I stand here to encourage the youths of Cross River State and Nigeria, that there are no barriers in making it in life, poverty is a thing of the mind. It begins with the mind. If the mind is poor and you dont reason beyond the things you see, you can never cross that Rubicon. I am here as a living testimony that there’s no amount of family background that should make you go into crime. Criminality is a thing of the mind. Its first conceived as a thought that is planned and orchestrated. It is not poverty that makes you go into criminality. Its your conviction that leads you into criminality. If poverty leads into criminality, I would have been a very hardened criminal. But because my father taught me that if it is yours, dont take it. You dont need to cheat another person to grow. And I held unto those principles. Those principles are what have kept me where I am today. No matter what you intend to be in life, put God first.”
The Ikom born politician also revealed that if the contest for speakership was all about money he wouldnt have been qualified as he is not as wealthy and connected as some of his opponents, Stating that his opponent spent a minimum of N200m to lobby for the position, but Grace found him and he got it without spending.