Cross River Commissioner Escapes Death While Distributing Palliatives

The Cross River State Commissioner for Humanity and Social Welfare, Mrs. Blessing Egbara, on Sunday, narrowly escaped death in Boki Local Government Area of the state during the distribution of palliatives.

Mrs. Egbara was allegedly manhandled by thugs led by the Councillor representing Ekpashi ward in Boki 2 State constituency, Omang Theresa Fobe.

DAILY POST reports that the incident occurred when the commissioner went to distribute palliatives in Boki late Sunday evening.

An eyewitness, who declined to give his name, said the assault on the commissioner was as a result of poor coordination given that the locals and councillors in Boki were not taken into consideration.

He explained that disagreements came when the councillor, Omang who had reportedly requested for the bags of palliatives to be dropped at her compound so that she could carry out the exercise herself.

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“The disagreement and hot exchange of words became fierce that the commissioner ordered her team to turn around and head back to base with a view to continuing the exercise the next day, (Monday) when the beneficiaries would be available.

“The councillor got furious with the idea of not handling the exercise herself as she ordered thugs to block the road at about 9:40 pm on Sunday to stop the commissioner and her team from leaving the community.

“It got heated as the thugs started beating the team members and allegedly took out their locally-made rifles and threatened to shoot the team if they didn’t comply with Omang Theresa’s directives.”

Reacting, Omang, however, denied that they manhandled the commissioner, adding that she and other stakeholders merely appealed to her to allow her to handle the distribution since it was very late.

“It is not true that we beat her up. We told her that it was late for her to distribute the palliatives in the night and that we can do that the following day. But she disagreed,” the lawmaker stated.