Paramount Ruler, 17 Others Escape Drowning; Senator Ita-Giwa Fails To Make Trip
High waves and boisterous winds in the Bakassi Peninsula, Cross River State, South South Nigeria, capsized the boat carrying a paramount ruler, Etinyin Etim Okon Edet, along with 17 prominent sons and daughters of the area.
They were going for the voter registration exercise when the incident happened on Sunday morning.
Senator and former presidential aide, Florence Ita-Giwa who was at the Calabar beach to board the same boat to Bakassi for the voter registration exercise but did not make the trip if not she would have suffered the same harrowing experience with her kinsmen.
The Bakassi people who sailed to Bakassi from the Marina Beach in Calabar in high spirits to perform their civic duty in their ancestral home had their joy turned to sorrow about 20 minutes into the journey when violent waves produced by another boat carrying Ijaw militants overtook theirs on top speed and caused it to capsize.
All the 18 passengers inside the Yamaha horse powered engine boat saw themselves floating in the sea and gasping for breath as the turbulent tide covered them.
Help, however, came their way when occupants of the boat which caused the accident came to their rescue.
The monarch and his subjects were going to Dayspring Resettlement Centre in the old Bakassi to participate in the ongoing voter registration exercise.
Most citizens of the state have been going to their native homes to register so as to swell the number there for data and demographic reasons.
Another boat conveying registration materials had gone ahead of the party but following the incident, the natives who reside in Calabar could not proceed on the journey.
They beat a retreat to tell the story of their miraculous escape from the jaws of death.
“Ijaw militants who left the Calabar beach soon after our boat overtook us on top speed. The waves caused by their boat swerved our boat from side top side causing it to capsize,†one of the rescued occupants of the boat told P.M.NEWS.
He said the militants who traverse Calabar-Bayelsa State waterways at will, are always too reckless once they are on board their boat travelling.
“They fear no foe on the high seas including Cameroon gendarmes since they are alleged to be into shady activities in the Gulf of Guinea,†the passenger said.
However, what significantly contributed to the survival of the monarch and his people was the life jacket they all had on. Once the boat turned upside down, they started floating and shouting for help which came readily from the Ijaw militants who are believed to be lords of the sea.
Contacted on phone, Ita-Giwa said though she was at the beach, she did not board any of the boats going to Bakassi and thanked God for sparing the lives of her people.
She said the survival was “the work of God and not any power†and promised to hold firmly to her “faith in Godâ€.
Boats at the beach were to leave for Bakassi in batches with the people.
Ita-Giwa was billed to board the next boat but following reports of the mishap, other boats could not make the journey again as all the prospective passengers were too frightened to do so.
‘’I did not enter any boat. It was the Paramount Ruler who did. We thank God that nothing tragic happened. All the people who were on board are prominent citizens of our Local Government Area who mean a lot to all of us,†she said.
The paramount ruler on his part said: “As you can see, I’m alive. Nothing happened to me or any of my people. We thank God for His mercy. We were going with genuine intention to our ancestral land to register so that we can exercise our franchise in April. Despite this incident, we shall return there to get registered,’’ he said.
— Emmanuel Una/Calabar
Comments