The Cross River State Government has threatened legal action against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) factional governorship candidate, Sir Arthur Jarvis Archibong, over an alleged false press release concerning Governor Bassey Otu and the Paramount Ruler of Calabar South.

The development followed an attack on PDP supporters during the party’s consultative meetings in Calabar South, in which at least three persons were reportedly injured and vehicles belonging to members of the party’s consultative team damaged.

Archibong had alleged that gunmen disrupted the consultation at the palace of the Paramount Ruler of Calabar South, HRH Etubom Nyong Edet Okon I, before another attack allegedly occurred at the African Club along Calabar Road.

The PDP candidate subsequently addressed journalists over the incidents, while the state government and the All Progressives Congress (APC) denied involvement in the attacks.

Against the backdrop of the controversy, the state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Pastor Ekpenyong Cobham, yesterday addressed journalists at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre in Calabar, where he accused Archibong and his media team of publishing a false account of the traditional ruler’s role in the episode.
Cobham said the disputed publication alleged that Governor Otu had directed the paramount ruler not to receive Archibong during his political consultation in Calabar South.

He dismissed the claim as false, insisting that the governor never issued such a directive to the traditional ruler.
According to him, he personally met with the paramount ruler, who denied receiving any instruction from Otu not to receive Archibong.

The commissioner also claimed that the traditional ruler showed him a response from Archibong apologising over the publication and directing that it be taken down.

Cobham described the alleged publication as an attempt to malign the governor, saying the government would not allow such claims to go unchallenged.

“It is an absolute insult to malign the character, the name and the personality of His Excellency for an issue which is a figment of the imagination,” he said.

The commissioner therefore gave Archibong and his media team 48 hours to retract the publication and issue a public apology to the governor.

He warned that failure to comply with the demand would compel the state government to consider legal action, insisting that the governor had no reason to prevent the traditional ruler from receiving any political aspirant.