Cross River State Government has denied the alleged armed robbery attack on Calabar Christmas Village, while the Carnival was ongoing.  In a statement in Calabar, yesterday, the state government said that the report was concocted and done with the aim of embarrassing the state. The statement signed by Mr Christian Ita, Senior Special Assistant on Media to the state governor, Ben Ayade, said:


"The report is replete with factual inaccuracies and outright lies invented by the author of the said report.  It is shocking that a reporter who is holidaying somewhere in Lagos could conjure a robbery incident that never took place.

"The reporter syndicated same to some of his colleagues all in a bid to damage a brand that has been painstakingly built over the years. For the avoidance of doubt, there was no robbery at the Calabar Christmas Village. That it was even reported that gunshots were fired, shows the depth of ethical bankruptcy of the writer."

It claimed that what happened was that some fans watching Kiss Daniel’s performance became unruly at some point and threw plastic bottles on stage.


"The incident lasted for a very brief period before security officials restored normalcy.  The village is structured in such a way that everyone keeps an eye on his neighbour. Also, there is heavy security presence. So, it is extremely difficult to imagine a robbery attack."