We can confirm that Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade, has suspended the 2021 Calabar Carnival citing insecurity in the state & the COVID-19 pandemic, as reasons why Africa’s biggest street party cannot be staged.
Ayade who announced the suspension at the State Executive Council Chamber in the presence of carnival band leaders, Speaker of the CRS House of Assembly, Eteng Jones Williams, members of the State Executive Council, local council chairmen from the 18 council areas of the state, said he would not as a governor and leader compromise the lives and safety of the citizens for the fleeting excitement of the carnival when the COVID-19 variant, Omicron, was on the prowl.