Obono-Obla dismisses Atiku’s claim of insecurity in Calabar

Says Peter Obi incident isolated case A human rights activist and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress has dismissed recent claims of insecurity in Calabar by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar as a product of gossip far from reality. Speaking on a national television station, Obono-Obla was emphatic that the Cross River State Capital has no security issue.

According to him, “Calabar is one of the safest cities anybody would want to live in Nigeria,” and lauded Governor Bassey Otu for providing effective and efficient security measures in the state. In his words: “The governor has addressed security in Calabar. Before the governor came into office, I was very familiar with the security situation. University lecturers and doctors were being kidnapped almost every day.

But as soon as he came into office, he appointed a retired Major General as state security adviser. “The governor has also provided significant security support, including government police officers and other security agencies.” While accusing Atiku of relying on gossip, he said “it is very petty for somebody who was a former Vice President of this country to descend to that level and begin talking about security in Calabar.” On the incident involving the campaign convoy of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of Nigeria Democratic Congress, the former presidential aide said stone-throwing during campaigns, even in advanced democracies like the United States.

While describing the incident as an isolated case, he wondered if the incident was not as the result of internal disaffection within Obi’s own party.