Protest Rocks Cross River Communities Over Insecurity, Lack Of Basic Infrastructure

Following attacks that continued unchecked, which led to the death of one of the youths in Utanga, one of the Communities along the road leading to Becheve in Obaleku LGA, the people have cried out, attributing their ordeal to lack of basic security presence and communication infrastructures.

The latest among the attacks happened on Tuesday where some notorious gunmen reported to have stormed the village in military uniform held the people under siege for over three house, as they reportedly blocked the entrances leading to the village.

According to an eyewitness, who simply introduced himself as Godwin, he said; “the problem of the Communities from Otuhu to Utanga to Becheve, there is no well established Police station, except a Police Post, which can only boast of three to four Policemen and mostly unarmed.

“Another major issue is that there is no telecommunication infrastructures to communicate. It is rather painful that the communities that host one of the world tourist destinations cannot afford to communicate to anyone for such a large area.

“So our protest bordered on the fact that the government has refused to do the needful. What does it take to get Telecom Industries to mount their Masts and power it at strategic points.

“The few policemen were just hounded and locked up inside their own office by the assailants, otherwise they could have called for help from the nearest Police Command but they were just stranded.”

When our reported visited the scene of the crime, the schools were shut and angry youths were seen blocking the only Road leading to the Ranch.

Our reporter took a vehicle from Otuhu to Becheve, no signal of any network provider for communication was seen, a very dangerous trend, which affects time management, business and even health care.

Our reporter only spotted spot one mast but a closer look revealed that it is only a skeletal structure without transmitters. It was said to belong to MTN.

Meanwhile, the Communities are neighbour to Governor Ben Ayade’s local government who comes from Obudu local government area.