There are indications that today’s Carnival Calabar Cultural Festival which initially sparkled in the day, ran into an unfortunate situation in the end when culturally attired contestants from 10 local government areas of Cross River State were forced to abandon the competitive stage of the festival at the U.J.Esuene stadium because of a power outage that www.calitown.com reporters on the ground attribute to poor planning.
“We were waiting for more performances when it became dark. We thought the generator at the stadium will be immediately turned on but that never happened. We had to wait for a while for the stadium authority to get it right but the lighting was only on the stage, set for the musical concert billed to hold in the stadium. Even the state box was in darkness and the judges, spectators, and we press people had to leave the venue. No explanation was offered but we believe that those who whose task it was to facilitate power generation for this early evening part of the cultural festival obviously didn’t perform”, our reporter revealed.
But Chairman of the Cross River State Sports Commission, Orok Duke, on the line from the stadium, told www.calitown.com that “we were trying to bleed the generator after it went off. Consider too that the current fuel scarcity in the country played her part but as l speak with you right now, there is light in the stadium”. Pictures however obtained by our reporters show clearly that the stadium was in darkness with even cable outfit, Multichoice, unable to beam live the concluding part of the cultural festival.
