By Kelvin Obambon
A viral video documenting a tense altercation between operatives of the Cross River State Police Command’s Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU) and the Chairman of Calabar Municipality, Hon. James Anam, has sparked public outrage and renewed scrutiny over police conduct in Nigeria.
The video, recorded from inside an operational vehicle by what appears to be an officer involved in the incident, captures armed police personnel berating and threatening the local council chairman at an undisclosed stop-and-search point in Calabar. In the recorded exchange, officers can be heard taunting the chairman over parking, dismissing his authority, and issuing explicit threats.
Among the verbal assaults captured on video, an officer is heard declaring: “Armed robbers go visit you. You’re a foolish man… You think say I dey fear you? I no dey fear you… For Anti Kidnapping ehnn, I don pay my dues for this Cross River State.”
READ ALSO: Cross River Commences Statewide Distribution of Improved Cowpea Seeds
Reacting to the viral footage, the Cross River State Police Command issued an official press statement on Friday, September 18, 2026, signed by Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Sunday Eitokpah.
The Command acknowledged the footage and stated that the Commissioner of Police, CP Ajo Geoffrey Ordue, has ordered a discreet and impartial investigation into the incident, which preliminary reports indicate occurred roughly three weeks ago.
According to the statement, both the Chairman and the VCRU operatives involved are being formally invited to give account of the encounter. The Command urged the public to withhold final judgment until the internal investigation concludes.
However, the threat made by an active VCRU officer, promising a citizen and elected government official a targeted visit by armed robbers, draws direct parallels to public allegations made by social critic and activist, Martins Vincent Otse (VeryDarkMan), who has repeatedly accused elements within Nigeria’s security apparatus of enabling, harbouring, or actively participating in insecurity.
This incident provides concrete visual evidence of the institutional indiscipline that critics like VeryDarkMan frequently point to. When personnel assigned to anti-kidnapping and violent crime units casually leverage the threat of criminality against members of the public, it reinforces the perception that the boundary between state security institutions and the criminal elements they are tasked to combat remains dangerously porous.
