Gunmen Abduct Former Senator In Cross River

Gunmen abducted Senator Patrick Ani, a Third Republic lawmaker from Cross River State from his farm in Akpabuyo Local Government area, on the outskirts of Calabar, the state capital on Wednesday evening.
Senator Ani, who represented Cross River South senatorial district, on the platform of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC) between 1991 and 1992, was allegedly abducted in his farm.
He was reportedly abducted without any resistance, it was gathered.
A staff on the farm, who declined to be named, confirmed the incident and also disclosed that the police came to the farm to assess the situation.
Meanwhile, Cross River State Government has concluded plans to set up a Homeland Security outfit to complement efforts of the existing security agencies.
Governor Ben Ayade disclosed this when he received the French Consul General, Laurent Polonceaux and his entourage on a courtesy visit in his private residence in Calabar.
He explained that the essence of the Homeland Security Service, which would be non-arm bearing outfit, would be a complete departure from the traditional methods of policing.
Ayade said the envisaged security outfit, expected to provide 3,000 jobs for Cross Riverians, would concentrate but not limited to providing intelligence, profiling of visitors coming into the state and out of the state, including carrying out services such as neighbourhood watch and providing intelligence data and services to police.
The governor disclosed that the state would rely on the support of the government of France for technical and other logistics support for the security organisation.
“Cross River has been the home of tourism, a signature and hallmark of hospitality and good lifestyle for all Africans, it is imperative we make it very safe.
“It was against this background that Cross River, with technical partnership from the French government would be looking at the possibility of setting up a Cross River State Homeland Security Service.
“The security service is a complete departure from what is the tradition. It will, however, include but not limited to issues like providing intelligence, profiling of visitors coming in and out, providing intelligence services also, doing neigbourhood check and watch.
“It will also assist in furnishing the police and other security agencies with information on who comes in and out of the state by providing intelligence  data to police. It will be a non-arm bearing outfit with assistance from the French government support necessary to succeed.”
Speaking earlier, Polonceaux, who was accompanied on the visit by the Head of Lafarge Cement Plant, Calabar, thanked Ayade for the meeting and harped on the need for a more healthy and robust cooperation between his country and Cross River, especially in the area of doing business with Lafarge and water provision, which, he said, his country was currently providing for Obubra and Okpoma communities.  THE GUARDIAN