At least, one person has been confirmed dead after a shoot-out between unidentified gunmen at the secretariat of the All Progressives Congress in Obudu Local Government Area of Cross River State.
The incident was said to have occurred late Thursday after the senator representing Cross River Central in the National Assembly, John Owan-Enoh, had just finished consultations with stakeholders of the party over his governorship ambition.
The victim, a student of the Federal College of Education in Obudu, was said to have been sitting in the front of his house when the stray bullet hit him in the head.
It was learnt on Friday that the victim, whose name could not be ascertained, died shortly after he was rushed to a medical facility in Obudu.
A hospital source, who identified himself as Baron, said the victim was shot in the head and in the abdomen with about three bullets, adding that another person also sustained bullet wounds.
He said, “The victim could not manage it because he was shot in the head and it scattered the brain. He died shortly after he was rushed to the hospital. For the other man, the bullet just brushed through, so he didn’t need to be admitted, so he just left.”
Trouble was said to have started when some suspected thugs tried to stop the senator from carrying out his consultation but the move was stoutly resisted.
Obudu is the hometown of Governor Ben Ayade.
An eyewitness at the APC secretariat, Mr. Macaulay Upan, said, “Some youths in Obudu had tried preventing Owan-Enoh, a sitting senator, from carrying out his consultation but they met stiff opposition by the security personnel attached to the senator.
“The youths came in and I can’t say for sure what caused the problem, but a few shots were fired and the youths retreated only to return and a shoot-out ensued. It was during the shoot-out that someone raised an alarm that the student had been shot in front of his house,” he said.
Spokesman of Senator Owan-Enoh, Mr. Mr. Kelvin Ijo, said the problem occurred after the senator had left the venue, adding that there were earlier attempts to deny the senator entry into Obudu, but it failed.
“Some people did not want him (Owan-Enoh) to enter Obudu for reasons best known to them, but he eventually entered and carried out his consultation. When he left, some people descended on the APC secretariat and burnt it.
