Former Vice President and presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has slammed Governor Bassey Otu of Cross River State for leaving his neighbours unprotected against armed robbery.

According to Atiku, in Calabar, the neighbours of Cross River's governor say robbers are breaking into their homes in the same estate where armed police and two roadblocks guard the governor's private residence.

"One resident lost his air conditioner and freezer. Another says robbers attacked two houses on a nearby street only last week," Atiku said.

"This is security, APC style: two roadblocks for the governor, and none for the people next door. For nearly three years, the governor has run the state from his private house while Government House is renovated; yet the people living beside him cannot sleep without fear. If the APC cannot secure the street beside the governor, what does it offer the villages beyond the capital?"

Atiku said that if he becomes President, he would transform the police from a regime-protecting force into a citizen-focused public service, and he would expand the force to an international standard of one officer for every four hundred and fifty citizens, so protection reaches every street, not only the powerful.

"I will also build community-based security and intelligence networks, so that neighbourhoods can raise the alarm before the thieves arrive.

"Security that stops at the governor's gate is not security; it is a fence," he said.

ASA