Youths seize toll gate

Some 300 youths on Tuesday seized a toll gate linking Akwa Ibom and other parts of the east to Cross River following a face off between the two states, 'The Guardian' reported.

The newspaper reported a witness as saying that traffic at the gate was held up for over five hours as the protesting youths, mainly from Itu in Akwa Ibom, insisted that no vehicle was going to cross into or out of Cross River State. The youths were protesting against the recent surrendering of Efiat East and West to Bakassi in Cross River. They charged that Bakassi was not in Cross River but in Akwa Ibom, 'The Guardian' reported.

They were also angry about a resolution passed last week by the Cross River state government requesting the removal or redeployment of Akwa Ibom indigenes in the Cross River State public service, the daily said. Akwa Ibom Deputy Governor Chris Ekpenyong has assured indigenes of the state working in Cross River of their job security in case of any sackings.

He added that in spite of the ties linking the two states Akwa Ibom could not afford the luxury of donating land to Cross River because of "its insatiable greed for oil."