Ayade tightens security in Calabar 

CROSS River Governor, Prof. Ben Ayade has tight­ened security in Calabar, hours after he joined secu­rity forces to patrol major streets in the state capital.

Along Marian Road alone, about eight detach­ment of security personnel drawn from all the forces, where seen at strategic lo­cations.

Ayade had, on Saturday defied the rain to team up with service commanders to carry out the Operation Show of Force.

Briefing newsmen short­ly after the exercise, Ayade explained that the exercise was a deliberate measure to let miscreants know that his team was in absolute control of the entire situa­tion.

“We are out here as a show of force to demon­strate that we are in abso­lute control and we are go­ing to keep Calabar totally safe,” adding that “we have done a complete surveil­lance of all the possible routes, all the water areas through which these crimi­nals escape.

“We know who they are, security and intelligence reports have shown clearly, the people who are behind all these activities and I can assure the people of Cross River State that Calabar is, indeed, peaceful and they should go about their le­gitimate businesses peace­fully.”

The governor affirmed that all specific locations have been marked just as he said access to water­fronts would be cut off.

He also hinted that “we are also embarking on a door-to-door search and cordoning off Calabar to ensure that nobody exits without a thorough search.”

On measures to sustain the exercise, the governor explained that as “a fallout of our security meeting last Friday and today (Satur­day), we will reduce some of our spendings while transferring some of the overheads to guarantee suf­ficient ammunition as well as other security and logis­tics support.”

Cross River Commis­sioner of Police, Jimoh Ozi- Obeh assured that his men will continue to protect the lives and property of resi­dents of the state.