Cross River SSG Blamed For Deadly Communal Crisis

 

The Secretary to the Government of Cross River State, Ms Tina Banku Agbor, has been blamed for the crisis in  Borum community in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State.

The Special Adviser (Administration) Office of Governor Ben Ayade, Mark Obi, alleged that Ms Agbor mobilized policemen and thugs to sack the community and engage in a looting spree.

The crisis triggered by bitter tussle over who controls the sprawling oil palm estate in Borum community boiled over on Sunday when an armed thug allegedly hired by Ms Agbor shot and killed a 36-year old lady identified as Bukie Etta. Two other injured victims were hospitalized.

According to Obi, an indigene of the community which has been boiling  for over 48 hours, since Ms Agbor was appointed SSG, Boki, a local government where the SSG also comes from, has not known peace.

“The oil palm estate is the property of Cross River State Privatisation Council but she and her acolytes want to lay claim to it.

“She printed 2,000 forms for people to buy at N3,000 in her bid to sell the palm estate plots and made about N6 million. We have the documents.

“Tina Agbor sees me as her mortal enemy because I defeated her in the State House of Assembly election in 1999. She has rebuffed all attempts at reconciling us,” Obi said.

He further stated: “For the past one month she has been using the police to harass and arrest my people who are taken to Calabar on trumped up charges.

“On 19 March, she mobilized the police and thugs who stormed Oku at night and sacked the community. That was when a thug shot dead a woman and two other persons were injured and hospitalized.”

He said the issue has been reported to the appropriate authorities, adding that the state governor was doing something about it.

When Tina Agbor was contacted over the allegation, she admitted that there was crisis in the community but threatened to sue any journalist who links her with the crisis.

Meanwhile, reports have it that the clan head of Oku-Borum-Njuo ward, Chief Benard Nku, was also attacked with machete by youths during a clash over who controls the Oil Palm estate in Borum.

Trouble started on Sunday when some youths who protested the continued management of the estate by a group of politicians in the area, stormed Oku-Bushuyu, a community in Boki, and opened fire on the lady that died as well as the clan head.

A source said the clan head was one of the proponents of the take-over of the estate by a new group of politicians, allegedly led by a prominent figure in the current administration.

“Chief Nku supported the idea that another set of people should manage the estate as the other group has managed the estate for more than seven years now.  He was macheted by those who are opposed to this idea while the woman was killed when the other group stormed the village,” the source said.

Similarly, the house of a former Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Chief Fidelis Edor was said to have been razed down by the same group that killed the woman.

The source also said a Police van which conveyed security operatives to the scene was seized by irate youths and about five Policemen wounded in the course of the crisis.

“We don’t know when the killings will stop because it looks like all of this is about the up-coming Chairmanship and Councillorship election slated for June.  The politicians are arming the youths and the government is looking the other way and if something is not done now, the situation could degenerate to what we may not be able to contain,” the source said.

When contacted, the State Commissioner of Police, Hafiz Inuwa, while confirming that at least five of his men have been injured, said the police were on top of the situation.