…As Unknown Gunmen Attack His Convoy
By Damion Idagu, Calabar
The senator representing Cross River North senatorial district at the National Assembly, Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, on Saturday evening narrowly escaped death, just after the conclusion of the Ogoja/Yala federal constituency bye-election, when his convoy was attacked by unknown gunmen.
The gunmen, who shit at some vehicles in the senator’s convoy, damaged the doors of the vehicles, broke the glasses of the vehicles’ windows, leaving the glasses in shreads.
Fortunately, the lawmaker managed to escape unhurt, without sustaining any bullet wound.
Sources said that the incident occurred when result of the just concluded bye-elections for Ogoja/Yala federal constituency was being collated.
The attack was despite the fact that the bye-election was largely reported to be peaceful throughout the constituency.
Sources alleged that the suspected group of heavily armed men, who were fully loaded in Hilux vans and a tinted-glass coaster bus, shot sporadically into the air and instilled fear in motorists and passersby.
An eye witness, Joy Odama, who spoke to CompassNG in Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River State, stated that the incident happened at Abakpa axis of Ogoja, as the gun-trotting hoodlums were said to be rerurning from Mbube West, where they had gone to perpetrate their atrocities.
Odama stressed that Jarigbe was attached as he got to Ndok Junction, in an effort to monitor what was going on regarding the bye-elections, before he was unfortunately attacked by the gunmen.
As at the time of filing this report, effort to confirm and ascertain if the lawmaker sustains any injuries failed, as his telephone line is said to be switched off.
But one of his aides, Festus, (surname withheld), however, wondered “why would my principal raise a false alarm, if he wasn’t attacked?”
He added, “He merely escaped death by whiskers. I am authoritatively telling you that my boss’ convoy was attached.
“I just thank God that the security operatives attached to ‘oga’ were able to live up to the expectation, by whisking our boss away from those killers.”
Findings by CompassNG revealed that the gunmen had attempted to snatch result sheets from 16 polling units and threatened to beat up the adhoc staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and some voters, before they were resisted by youths in the area of the incidence.
However, one of the youths who spoke to our correspondent at Ndok Junction lauded the INEC adhoc staff for not giving in to the intimidation of the gunmen, who stormed the area with the motive to disrupt the process; expressing happiness that the election results were already stored in the Bi-Modal Voter Accreditation, BIVAS machines.
However, as at the time filing in this report, INEC was yet to officially announce the result of the tension-soaked bye-election.
