Gunmen opened fire on two Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) consultative meetings in Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State on Friday, 2 October 2026, injuring three people and destroying several vehicles belonging to party supporters. The PDP’s governorship candidate, Sir Arthur Javis Archibong, confirmed the attacks while addressing journalists shortly after the incidents, describing them as coordinated assaults designed to suppress political participation ahead of the 2027 general elections. The Cross River State Police Command has since confirmed both incidents and deployed officers to the affected locations.
The first attack took place at the Palace of the Paramount Ruler of Calabar South, Etubom Nyong Edet Okon I, where gunmen stormed an ongoing party meeting, wounded three attendees and forced the gathering to disperse. The injured were taken to hospital following the attack. A second assault followed at the African Club along Calabar Road, which had been designated as the venue for a further consultative session — there, the PDP convoy came under fire and supporters’ vehicles were vandalised, compounding what the party characterised as a deliberate campaign of intimidation.
Archibong said approximately 3,000 supporters had attended the consultations across both venues, and that the party took a deliberate decision not to retaliate, instead redirecting the convoy to the Commissioner of Police to seek protection. That restraint, he suggested, should not be mistaken for weakness. He warned that if attacks on political gatherings continued unchecked, the state risked sliding into lawlessness precisely as the 2027 election season gathers momentum, and he placed the responsibility for any consequent breakdown of order squarely on the security establishment’s failure to act. The PDP has announced it will formally petition the Inspector-General of Police, the Department of State Services (DSS) and other relevant agencies over the incidents.
PDP State Publicity Secretary Mike Ojisi issued a separate statement describing the events as “disturbing attacks” and confirmed the matter had been formally reported to Cross River State Police Commissioner CP Geoffrey. The party called on security agencies to identify and prosecute those responsible while urging its own members to remain calm and refrain from reprisals — a measured public stance that nonetheless signals the party’s view that the attacks were not random acts of violence but targeted political suppression.
The state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) flatly denied any involvement. Its Publicity Secretary, Emmanuel Inyang, said the APC was focused on its own campaign activities and advised the PDP to look elsewhere for those responsible. The denial was predictable, though it does nothing to resolve the central question of who organised or funded the gunmen. Police spokesman ASP Sunday Eitokpah confirmed that officers had been deployed to the affected areas and that the situation was under control, adding that the command was “verifying the circumstances surrounding the incidents, including reports of gunfire, injuries, and damage to property.” He appealed to residents to remain calm, avoid the affected areas where necessary and refrain from sharing unverified information online.
The Calabar attacks are not an isolated development. In a separate incident reported on Tuesday, 29 September 2026, suspected hoodlums attacked Fiidi Council Ward NDC chairman Igbu Terhemen in Makurdi, Benue State, tying him up before abandoning him unconscious in a bush near his home, where he was discovered around 2 am the following morning with a needle-like mark on his body. The Benue State NDC condemned the killing and called on security agencies to identify and arrest those responsible, adding another data point to a troubling pattern of political violence that appears to be intensifying as the country edges closer to the next election cycle.