Mob Attack Ayade, Owan Enoh, Others In Ikom

By Christiana Alawa/Frank Edima

A crowd of supporters in front of the home of the Senate Leader, Victor Ndoma Egba, this evening attacked the convoy of the Cross River State PDP governorship flag bearer, Senator Ben Ayade and the party’s Senatorial flag bearer in Cross River Central Senatorial District, Hon. John Owan Enoh, who went to visit Senator Egba in company of the state chairman of the PDP, Ntufam John Okon, Hon. Emmanuel Ibeshi and others.

In what was described as an immature display of aggression by supporters of the Senate Leader, Hon. Owan Enoh said if the bus conveying Senator Ayade’s supporters was not bullet proof, it would have been a different story as the angry mob violently threw stones and cudgels that shattered the rare glasses of the Prado Jeep injuring one person in the process.

He said: “It was a primitive reaction that was unnecessary. If he has no respect for me he should have at least have respect for the governorship candidate, Senator Ayade, who could not have come to visit him alone because an incoming governor cannot move alone.”

Owan Enoh urged his supporters to remain calm and reconciliatory and not to think of any form of reprisal.

According to Mr. Chris Agara, a chieftain of the PDP, who arranged the visit, though there was a big crowd waiting to receive Senator Ayade in Ndoma Egba’s house, no information was given to the Senate Leader that Hon. Owan Enoh will be in Ayade’s convoy. He urged the parties to remember that the PDP is one family in the state and encouraged both sides of the divide to embrace reconciliation and peace and work together in the interest of the party in the state.

Hon. Emmanuel Ibeshi, in his reaction to the attack, urged everyone to understand that it is not easy for those who won election to understand how those who lost will feel. He urged everyone to bear reconciliation in mind and work hand in hand for the betterment of the state.

Ntufam John Okon, the state chairman of the party recalled that when he became the party chairman, Ndoma Egba was in control of all the structures of the party in the Central Senatorial District and he did not change any of the executives.

He said he has made repeated efforts to reach the Senate Leader on Facebook but the Senator has rebuffed his entreaties and absolved himself of any complicity in party’s primaries.

But according to the Senate Leader who later spoke to CrossRiverWatch, he said he was not aware of any such incidence in his house. He said “We got a big crowd to receive Senator Ayade. Nobody told me that Owan Enoh was coming and you know passions are very hot here and it never happened in my compound so let nobody tell you that. It must have been that there were still outside. As I am talking to you now, we are still expecting Senator Ben Ayade.”