Ayade made this known on Monday, while reaffirming the curfew imposed on Calabar and its environs.

The hoodlums had on Friday and Saturday took advantage of the #ENDSARS protests and looted items in the centre after they vandalised it.

“It will take the state government N5 billion to bring back the Calabar International Conference Centre, the beauty of Cross River State.

“This is not the Cross River that I was born into; it is unlike us,’’ the governor said.

Ayade said that the action would have negative impact on the progress of the state’s industrialisation efforts aimed at jobs creation.

Our correspondent reports that police and other security agencies deployed to the town had started raiding the suspected criminal hideouts with a view to recover the looted items.

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He said this in Monday in Calabar at a meeting with the media and the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee for Election Security (ICCES) as part of readiness for the forthcoming elections.

The by-elections are in Cross River North Senatorial district to replace the late Sen. Rose Oko and in Obudu state constituency which had the late Assemblyman Godwin Akwaji as its legislator.

“We have 459,487 registered voters; 51 registeration areas; and 565 polling units,” Hart said.

According to him, the commission has taken delivery of non-sensitive materials and distributed them to the local government areas.

“We are waiting for the sensitive materials which are expected in the week of the election,” he said.

He also said that 15 political parties would participate in the elections: nine for the senatorial election and six for the house of assembly election.

The commissioner said that accreditation and voting would be done simultanuously during the elections, adding that results would be transmitted electronically at ward levels.

He said that the commission had embarked on awareness and sensitisation of the electorate in the zone to come out en masse to vote candidates of their choice.

He advised the voters to conduct themselves peacefully during the elections, saying that the commission would not condone any violent act or actions that could breach the orderly and smooth conduct of the elections.

On his part, the Commissioner of Police in Cross River State, Mr Abdulkadir Jimoh, said his command was ready to ensure peace and security before, during and after the elections.

Major political parties taking part in the elections include the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), All Progressives Congress (APC) and African Democratic Congress (ADC).

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