Nigerian singer, Kiss Daniel, born Daniel Anidugbe was reportedly attacked during a Christmas performance in Calabar, the Cross River state capital.
According to reports, the singer was attacked in the early hours of Monday by armed robbers who invaded the Calabar Christmas Village while he was performing.
Punch Metro reports that the robbers stormed the Christmas village at about 1:00am and shot sporadically in the air while dispossessing people of their valuable possessions.
Causalities as a result of the shots fired by the armed men could not be ascertained but reports indicated that the armed men whose number remains unknown left several people with stab wounds and gunshot injuries.
Eyewitnesses reported that the robbers during the course of the confusion rushed to the stage to dispossess the artiste of some valuables before he was removed from the scene of the pandemonium.
Speaking to Punch, a shop owner in the village, Glory Andem said: “It was a serious situation and I got injured. What happened was that some guys came into the village and tried to rob Kiss Daniel when he was singing, ‘Oya talk to me o mama.’
“They were throwing bottles and other things at him. Before we knew it, they brought out guns and started shooting. Some security men immediately rushed to the singer. But even with the security, the robbers rushed at him and removed his clothes and collected things from him.”
She narrated further: “They would have killed that guy. To be honest, I don’t know how he managed to escape. You know there are several thousands of people in the Christmas village usually and the situation led to a serious pandemonium.
“They broke up everything in my shop. They took all my money. They robbed a lot of shops. Our chairs were broken. Everybody was running at the same time. It was a terrible experience.
“Several cars were vandalised. They broke the cars to steal from them. At a point, the lights went off and I thought I was going to die. As I speak with you, I have a serious cut from the incident and I want to go to a hospital to take a tetanus injections.”
In reaction to the scene, the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Jimoh Ozi-Obeh disclosed that the pandemonium was caused by a rift between organisers of the event.
As at press time, it could not be confirmed if the artiste suffered any injury from the attack.
Speaking further on the debunked robbery attack, the state Commissioner of police said: “There was no robbery incident in Calabar and nobody was attacked by robbers in any other part of Cross River State.
“What happened was that the government had initially planned to host the musician at the stadium, but the plan was changed to the Calabar Christmas Village. They probably had misunderstanding with the organisers. It was the change of venue that was not properly organised.”
