Calabar And Insecurity: An Expanding Concern Yet To Be Addressed

She had gone to the Holy Family Catholic Church in Big Qua Town to worship, on coming out to pick something from her car, less than nine minutes of parking the car, she came out and discovered someone had entered and started the car. In shock, she shouted, “Thief! Thief!!”. Confidently, the car thief reversed the car, head towards highway, and the rest they say is history.
When I ran into her, she was still in pains three months after her car was stolen. Nothing has been heard about her car. She was quick to remind me that, that car made it possible for her to move around and to carry her kids to school, not even mentioning the fact that her gratuity of service was what that car represented. A retiree who now treks due to a car crime in Calabar that has spiralled out of state control.
Ededet Effiong, whose car was equally stolen just last month, on October 5, around 2pm, ran into me a week ago before I travelled. He decried frustration over his car that was stolen. And in his raw and expressive pain, he was of the view that it is completely depressing to know that nothing tangible has come out from the search exercise one month after, as neither the Police force nor any paramilitary institutions have been able to solve this car theft problem, As he narrated to me, just two weeks ago another car was stolen opposite the Redeemed Christian Church of God at Akim Timber Market.
That is, three car gone! Citizens’ Solution Network hasn’t mentioned theirs nor provided the full list of what is plaguing the state due to the absence of a strong leadership to end this crime.
Charles Eyo, a renowned journalist, recently was explaining to Agba Jalingo how armed robbers with machetes, guns, sticks, etc. took over the Calabar-Itu road and dispossessed travellers and commuters of their belongings, explaining that they operated for hours and no security or law enforcement agency came to the rescue of these hapless citizens.
This is the situation we find ourselves in Cross River State, where citizens are left to suffer under the encouraged crime-ribbon that is spreading across every part, including homes, offices and roads. Yet, every month, billions of naira come to Cross River State as state and Local Government allocations, not even listing security votes amidst huge internally generated revenues. Question is, what are all these monies used for? Security and welfare should be the first score cards; outside propaganda what can you point to?
Too often, those of us asking that something reasonable, responsible and responsive be done are considered the problem; they just want citizens to endure the pain, suck it up and die in their frustration. And what happens too often? Jungle justice becomes the order of the day in the visible absence of State coordinated response to growing and expanding insecurity in the state.
The question is no longer if, it’s when will someone else become the next victim. I was in Rwanda sometime back and I discovered that every major street has cameras; Rwanda, an African country and they are not wiser than us. The credit to a large extent, is due to what the governors and mayors are doing there more than what the media wants people to believe, which, is that all credit goes to Paul Kagame.
There have been sustained calls by activists sent to the State Government to use technology and proper funding of the State Police Command to deter these crimes, because from all indications, Calabar has fast become the safest haven to steal cars, kidnap hard-working professionals like Prof. Ephraim and go scot-free; then plan the next attack since nothing on ground suggests deterrence, counter intelligence and rebalancing of the fear matrix against the criminals, who now move freely with the audacity to carry out whatever evil plan they hatch.
As they say, the cost of insecurity can be unquantifiable. As I remember the woman whose car was stolen and her pain and Mr. Ededet’s suffering since that incidence happened just to mention a few; someone was quick to bring to my attention that, the funeral procession that happened in the Dome at the Calabar Municipal Council last month, was that of one of the patients of Prof. Ephraim, the neurologist who was caring for the stroke patient until he was kidnapped, and the patient had to die in the absence of the care-giver.
But that isn’t all, the sister of Prof Ephraim had long suffered psychological breakdown from the frustration of facing her sister’s kidnapping, now months without closure from a so called community project government that says voting for them to win their election is a community project, which all citizens should join hands to achieve for them. Since they got into Peregrino Government House in Calabar, all you see is the tightening of their own personal security with escorts, and armed guards, while public security is treated with utter disregard thereby causing organisations like mine to suffer from car theft and others, to go through one insecurity induced pain or the other.
During election, they came with the mantra of community project, and afterwards, all citizens are abandoned to fend for themselves as they suffer irresponsive leadership.
It is the primary responsibility of government to protect citizens and their assets using public wealth and arms at their disposal. That responsibility in itself is the bargaining chip for faith in government and political survival. Hence the need for the government to prioritize public security in the same measure they fund and supply the need of their private guards funded from state resources. The lame press release that says insecurity is a national problem and commonplace, should be discarded-nobody elects any person to keep doling out such expired and dysfunctional justification for ineptitude in the face of new crime estimates.
*Citizens’ Observatory*, the research wing of Citizens’ Assembly and Citizens’ Solution Network, will continue to investigate, document and report this abandonment of citizens to their travails as they suffer from possible suicidal silence arising from insecurity especially as ‘Victims Funds’ and a Crime Victim Support Centre are not being set up to help cushion the financial and destabilising psychological burden that comes with losses, pains and frustration due to insecurity in the state, and to help victims get back on track with the understanding that their government will show up when they encounter problems from insecurity.
– By Richard F. Inoyo, Country Director, Citizens’ Solution Network.