An appointee of the Cross River State governor, Ben Ayade, who chairs the recently inaugurated Cross River State Cocoa Allocation Committee, was yesterday, February 16, 2019, fatally shot and critically wounded while his brother and three others were killed in Bendeghe Ekeim, Etung Local Government Area, CR Central
Sources in the area informed www.calitown.com that, Collins Ogar was shot while taking part in an organized peace meet, organized by notable elders of the community, spearheaded by one S. O. Abang, a professor in the University of Calabar. The meet we gathered, was put together to address the level of political related violence in the community that has festered unabated.
“We took turns to address the community at the central town hall when some boys with guns approached the venue. I quickly left the venue when I sighted them and considering too that this community has been enmeshed in an ugly bout of senseless killing”, one source said. “One other boy known locally as DMX was also shot. The guys who I can confirm died are Ayuk Ogar, 43, Okongor Atu and one other person I don’t know too well. Ayuk is Collins’ brother, a married father of three or so, he was unarmed when he was shot”, our source maintains.
It was also maintained to www.calitown.com that, “the Bendeghe carnage is a failure on the part of the leaders as well as a fight for cult supremacy.”
When contacted, an elder in the community bitterly told us that they are tired and wondered why “this is happening even when non of the aspirants (Buhari, Atiku, Victor Ndoma-Egba and Sandy Onoh) are from Bendeghe Ekeim.”
At press time, the corpses had been deposited in the morgue.
