By Okoi Obono-Obla
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s attempt to use an isolated robbery incident in Calabar to indict the APC government of Cross River State is political opportunism dressed as concern.
Let us put facts against emotion.
Burglary is a universal crime, not a Cross River invention:
USA: FBI recorded 779,542 burglaries in 2024, about 2,046 homes per day.
UK: England and Wales recorded 245,284 burglaries in year ending March 2025 – one every 173 seconds.
South Africa: 1.5 MILLION incidents of housebreaking in 2024/25 according to Statistics South Africa.
Kenya: Over 3,200 recorded burglaries annually, classified separately from 17,000+ stealing cases.
In those countries, no one claims the President or Prime Minister has failed because a house was burgled near his residence. Crime happens in every society – in London next door to Downing Street, in Washington D.C. blocks from the White House, and yes, in Calabar.
What Atiku describes – air conditioner and freezer stolen from one house, two houses attacked last week on a nearby street – is regrettable, but it is NOT a breakdown of security in Cross River State. This is isolated police work, not a governance failure.
THE REAL SECURITY STORY OF CROSS RIVER UNDER GOVERNOR OTU
For the record, Cross River State is today one of the safest States in the Federation.
Since Governor Senator Prince Bassey Edet Otu assumed office in May 2023, his administration has invested massively in security, and the grim era that preceded him has been reversed. Before May 2023, Cross River had one of the highest rates of ransom kidnapping, sea piracy, cultism, illegal mining and armed robbery, especially along the Calabar-Ogoja Highway and in Calabar metropolis where doctors and lecturers were being abducted.
That narrative has changed drastically:
The Governor appointed Major General Okoi Ubi Obono (Rtd.) as Senior Special Adviser on Security on 6th June, 2023 – a retired General with over 30 years of field and command experience. That appointment has tamed insecurity and restored coordination among security agencies.
Kidnapping, sea piracy and armed robbery have dropped drastically. The Nigerian Medical Association conferred its Platinum Award on Governor Otu specifically for creating a safer environment for practitioners. Youth stakeholders and security reports confirm that crimes prevalent 5-6 years ago have significantly declined in the last two years.
Today, there has been no reported incident of kidnapping involving students or lecturers for nearly three years, nightlife has returned to Calabar, and Cross River has moved from being a kidnap hotspot to being ranked among the safest states in the country.
ATIKU’S ARGUMENT COLLAPSES ON THREE GROUNDS:
One, Security Architecture: The Nigeria Police Force is a FEDERAL institution under the Inspector-General appointed by the President. The Governor does not control, recruit or post police officers. If Atiku wants to transform police from “regime-protecting to citizen-focused,” he should address his own party’s 16-year record when he was Vice President.
Two, Governor’s Security Protocol: Two roadblocks around a sitting Governor’s private residence where he has operated from for nearly three years due to Government House renovation is STANDARD VIP protection worldwide. It is not “APC style.”
Three, False Equivalence: You cannot use two houses burgled on one street to erase three years of statewide security gains acknowledged by the NMA, business community and residents. If the APC cannot secure the street beside the Governor, as Atiku claims, how did it secure the entire Calabar-Ogoja Highway, the creeks, and the campuses?
Security that is measured by one street is not analysis; it is politics.
Cross Riverians know the difference between an isolated theft and insecurity. They know that protection now reaches every street, not only the powerful – because the Governor has ensured it.
Cross River is safe. Calabar is safe. One incident does not rewrite that fact.
