APC Primaries: One feared dead in Cross River

One person was feared dead, Friday, during the primary election for the House of Representatives of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Cross River state.

The victim, whose name was given simply as Emman, was said to be a youth leader of ward 7 of Calabar South local government area of the State.

Blueprint reported that trouble started when one of the candidates allegedly hijacked materials for the primary, a situation which infuriated supporters of the rival aspirants.

This however resulted in altercation among supporters of other rival aspirants, and in the process, the anti-cultism unit of the Police stepped in. In order to restore sanity, the police started shooting skyward as delegates, Journalists and others, who were at the venue, scampered for safety.

An eyeswitness, who prefered anonimity, said, “The incident was uncalled for. Why should they allow a single aspirants to take away materials and when others protested, they allowed the anti cult guys to come and shot at people.

“As we were running away from the many gun booms, Emman rushed to where he parked his vehicle and was begging one of the shooters to allow him carry away his vehicle. The next thing was that Emman fell, with blood oozing out of his mouth. He died as he was being rushed to the hospital.

“Whether the death was from stray bulet or not, I cannot really tell. The truth is that there was no violence whatsoever to warrant Emman losing his life just like that.

“Let me use this opportunity to call on the Cross River state government to investigate what happened. As we speak, we do not know what could happened next as the Bakassi militants have promised to retaliate Emman’s death,” he stated.

The Police Public Relation Officer of the State Command, DSP Irene Ugbo, when contacted, said her office was yet to be briefed on the incident, and promised to investigate the matter.