Partial Lockdown: Ayade withdraws aides from border closure teams

Gov. Ben Ayade of Cross River has ordered the withdrawal of government appointees enforcing border closure at the various posts except Itu Bridge and Boki borders.

Ayade gave the withdrawal order on Tuesday in Calabar based on the constant reports of lapses at the Cross River border posts caused by the appointees.

According to him, village heads of border communities are directed to immediately organise vigilantes with support from the Nigeria Police, to man the various border posts in their communities.

“The new line of reporting will see the village heads reporting to the Paramount Rulers of their respective local government councils, who will in turn report to the Chairman of the state traditional rulers council.

“Similarly, the Chairman of the state traditional rulers council is by the new guideline, expected to send reports directly to the Chairman of the COVID-19 response task force.

“All the affected government appointees withdrawn from the borders are to return vehicles in their possession to the Chairman of the COVID-19 Response Taskforce in person within 24-hours,” he said in a statement by Mr Christian Ita, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity.

It was reported that Ayade had earlier declared partial lockdown of the state and directed the appointees from the state’s 18 Local Government Areas (LGAs) to go to their communities and partner with security operatives to ensure the borders closure.

The directive had not worked as there were continuous vehicular movement in and out of the state.