SUNDAY VANGUARD, JUNE 19, 2016, PAGE 35
metro
•All suspects
By Emmanuel Unah
C
alabar, Cross River State capital, is famously referred to as “Paradise City” occasioned by the idyllic and tranquil atmosphere prevalent in the city. People from far and wide regularly flock to the city, especially during weekends and holidays, to savour the convivial environment and spectacular cuisine which the city offers. However, in recent time, the spate of criminal activities like kidnappings, armed robbery and cultism have spiraled in Calabar which put a question mark on the status of the city as peaceful. These criminal activities reached a climax in the second week of June when cult groups “murdered’ the peace in Calabar with mindless killings which, not only sent fears in to the heart of residents but also questioned the capacity of security agencies to combat crime in the city. Since the beginning of the year, there have been occasional clashes among cult groups in the city leading to loss of lives and destruction of property, but the scale of the violence that took place during the second of June was the first of its kind in a long while. Like a bolt from th the blue, th Wednesday, 8 ; Thursday, 9 ; Friday; 10th and Saturday, 11th June, the peace in the city was shattered as many lives were lost and others maimed in the battle among cult groups operating around the Watt Market and adjoining areas in the central business area of Calabar. The battle involved cult
FOUR DAYS OF CULT WAR IN CALABAR
15 feared hacked to death, 36 ‘ cultists’ captured groups, including Marvians, Ekpatt, Skyloo and Vikings which engaged in a supremacy battle with guns, axes, machetes, and kitchen knives and by the time the dust settled on Sunday morning, about 15 persons had lost their lives. The fight started over the payment of levies by tricycle operators. Since the banning of motorcycle in the city, tricycles have become a major means of short distance transportation ferrying people from one street or zone to another. They have become lords unto themselves, brazenly disobeying government regulation barring them from operating in certain areas. Meanwhile, various groups have constituted themselves into a notorious force in certain sections of the town by turning major streets into “parks” , particularly around the Watt market to carry and discharge commuters. These groups extort money from other tricycle operators and grant “immunity’ to their members from such extortion which is often the source of fracas among the groups as some tricyclists resist such extortion which then leads to conflict.
That killing opened the floodgates of attacks as over the next three days, members of the various groups began hunting members of each other and killings were reported in parts of the city The blood bath of the four days started in one of those spots along Egerton Street when two opposing group members were engaged in a fight over a ‘levy” of N50 which a member of one group refused to pay to the other group and, in the ensuring fracas, some people were critically injured. The next day, one of the major characters in the fight, whose name was
given as Emmanuel Abuchi, was chased by the other group through several streets until they caught up with him at Palm Street/Mayne Avenue where he was hacked to death. That killing opened the floodgates of attacks as over the next three days, members of the various groups began hunting members of each other and killings were reported in parts of the city. Edibedibe/Fenton Street, Edibedibe/ Richard Henshaw Street, Mayne Avenue/ Nyong Edem Street, Target/ Academy Street, Mbukpa Junction and Nyahasang village were littered with corpses of combatants in the battle. Since the fight and killings were perpetrated in broad daylight, many people witnessed the scenes live and had to flee for dear lives with many sustaining injuries in the process. One shop operator along Goldie Street was hit and killed by stray bullets. The mayhem coincided with the assumption of duties by a new Police Commissioner in Cross River State, Jimoh Ozi Obe, who, jolted by the tide of events went after the hoodlums. He told Sunday Vanguard that
36 of the hoodlums have been apprehended along with ten armed robbery and kidnap suspects. “We have carried out raids in several cultists hideout and this has paid handsomely as we have arrested about 36 of them along with armed robbery suspects and all of them will soon appear in court”. He said only two deaths were recorded in the fight and the corpses were in the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital mortuary. “But if you say the number of deaths is more, tell us where the other corpses are so that we can go and get them but I know that the ones we saw are just two”, Obe said. The police boss said peace is gradually returning to Calabar and warned miscreants and criminals to stay away from the city because every one of them would soon be arrested and brought to justice. Whether peace is returning to Calabar or not, for now, there is a self-imposed curfew as people close shops at 6.00pm and night clubs and drinking joints are now deserted because people would rather stay in their homes than venture outside to meet the unknown.
TUC award for PenCom boss
T
he Director-General of the National Pension Commission, PenCom, Mrs. Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, has bagged the Trade Union Congress, TUC, “Excellent, Visionary, and Emphatic Leader ” Award. She bagged the award at the Triennial National Delegates Conference/Excellent Service Award organised by the TUC in Abuja. The National President of the TUC, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, who said the award
was conceptualised to “recognise men and women of distinction in their respective areas as well as who have positively impacted our society in very remarkable ways and those who have supported the aims and objectives of the Congress”, said Mrs. Anohu-Amazu had touched the lives of Nigerian workers through her visionary leadership as the head of pension regulatory agency. Reacting to the honour, Anohu-Amazu reiterated the commitment of PenCom to the wel-
fare of the Nigerian worker and ensuring that the pension industry contributed to national development. She said the Commission was set to roll out the Micro Pension Scheme to cater for millions of self-employed Nigerians. Anohu-Amazu served on the Fola Adeola-led Pension Reform Committee set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which work resulted in the Pension Reform Act 2004 and has helped to nurture pension assets to the tune of N5.4 trillion.
•Chinelo Anohu-Amazu (middle) flanked by Commissioners/ management of PENCOM at the conferment of the award on her.