Calabar, 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 the blue, Wednesday, 8th; Thursday, 9th;
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 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.
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.
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