Cross River security worsens, as Patrick Ani is kidnapped

Security situation in Calabar, the Cross River State capital, has taken a new dimension and all-time low after recent successful high profile crime incidents with the latest being the kidnap of a Third Republic senator, Patrick Ani.

Ani, who represented Cross River South under the defunct National Republican Convention between 1991 and 1992, was kidnapped on Wednesday in the outskirt of Calabar where he had flourishing herbal farm in Akpauyo Local Government Area.

Irene Ugbo, the state police public relations officer, told reporters that the incident had been reported to them but they were yet to confirm it, and refused to speak further and simply pleaded that she would call back as soon as they confirm the report.

A male staff working at the farm of the kidnapped senator confirmed that his boss was kidnapped and the police came around and promised to take over the matter.

On the same Wednesday the senator was kidnapped, armed robbers operated in broad day lights in the centre of the state capital where the held residents and business owners hostage for about 30 minutes along Marine Road, Calabar.

The area thrives with businesses such as car stands, tiles and bathroom equipment shops, wine and provision shops, fast-food joints, among others.

The robbers were reportedly four in number or more, as they stormed the tiles and bathroom shop and stole a safe containing money, and later fled the scene with a Toyota Camry vehicle they had snatched earlier at gun point from another resident earlier in the day.

Reports of night hours and day light robberies as well as cult clashes and killings in Calabar have been ongoing in recent times, and seemingly unabated.

Penultimate week, five foreign expatriates with two Nigerians were kidnapped and their Nigerian driver killed along the same Akpabuyo route where Senator Ani was kidnapped. The state security adviser, Jude Ngaji, however denied that a ransom was paid before their release – three Austrian, one New Zealander and one South African.