Robbers Attack Calabar Christmas Village, Rob Singer Kiss Daniel

Fun seekers in the early hours of Monday
scampered to safety after armed robbers
stormed the Calabar Christmas Village while a
popular Nigerian musician, Daniel Anidugbe,
aka Kiss Daniel, was performing.
PUNCH Metro learnt on Monday that the
robbers, whose numbers could not be
ascertained, stormed the village at about 1am
and shot repeatedly into the air while
dispossessing people of their valuables.
It could not be confirmed if anyone was killed
in the incident, but it was learnt that several
people were stabbed.
It was learnt that some others, who sustained
gunshot injuries, had been hospitalised.
The Calabar Christmas Village, which is
located in the precinct of Calabar Municipal
Council Secretariat, opens for 24 hours from
December 1 to December 31 every year as a
central location of revelry.
It was not clear if Kiss Daniel was injured, but
an eyewitness said the robbers rushed to the
stage while the pandemonium was on and
succeeded in removing some items from the
musician before he was whisked away by
security operatives.
An injured shop owner in the village, Glory
Andem, told PUNCH Metro that the presence of
robbers became obvious when some
spectators started throwing bottles at the
musician.
She said, “It was a serious situation and I got
injured. What happened was that some guys
came into the village and tried to rob Kiss
Daniel when he was singing, ‘Oya talk to me o
mama.’
“They were throwing bottles and other things
at him. Before we knew it, they brought out
guns and started shooting. Some security men
immediately rushed to the singer. But even
with the security, the robbers rushed at him
and removed his clothes and collected things
from him.
“They would have killed that guy. To be
honest, I don’t know how he managed to
escape. You know there are several thousands
of people in the Christmas village usually and
the situation led to a serious pandemonium.
“They broke up everything in my shop. They
took all my money. They robbed a lot of
shops. Our chairs were broken. Everybody was
running at the same time. It was a terrible
experience.
“Several cars were vandalised. They broke the
cars to steal from them. At a point, the lights
went off and I thought I was going to die. As I
speak with you, I have a serious cut from the
incident and I want to go to a hospital to take
a tetanus injections.”
But the state Commissioner of Police, Mr.
Jimoh Ozi-Obeh, said it was not a robbery
attack, but a misunderstanding between the
organisers.
He said the original plan was that Kiss Daniel
and other musicians would perform at the U.J.
Esuene Stadium in Calabar, but the venue was
changed to the Christmas village without any
notice to security agencies.
“There was no robbery incident in Calabar and
nobody was attacked by robbers in any other
part of Cross River State. What happened was
that the government had initially planned to
host the musician at the stadium, but the
plan was changed to the Calabar Christmas
Village. They probably had misunderstanding
with the organisers. It was the change of
venue that was not properly organised,” he
said.
Efforts to get the state government to
comment proved abortive as no official was
willing to speak.