Gov Kefas will end Tiv/Jukun crisis in the next six months – Taraba Lawmaker
Jethro Yerga, Jalingo
The Majority leader and law maker representing Wukari 1 constituency at the Taraba State House of Assembly, Hon Jethro Yakubu has assured the waring Tiv and Jukun communities from Southern Taraba, especially those in Wukari Local Government Area that, governor Kefas’ administration would surely end the prolonged crisis between Tiv and Jukun communities in the state within the next six months of his administration
Hon Yakubu gave this assurance at the weekend while interacting with the Tiv community of Wukari Local Government Area in Jalingo.
He stated that there are various forms of criminal activities that are being perpetrated around the zone and the governor would need a little time to assess the situations and other necessary issues to enable the displaced persons to get settled in their various homes without any rancour.
In his words, “the challenge we have in Wukari is beyond mere pronouncement from the governor that people should return to their homes. It is the governor’s earnest desire to get everybody settled down in his or her village however, there are criminal elements among us and other critical issues. We have issues of gangsterism, kidnapping, banditary, cattle rostering and arm robbery.
“Again, there are issues of some places where the people are bent that nobody would ever return to them and when it happened, the governor will not be there. These issues most have to be properly resolved before people will get resettled. We need to give the governor a period of at least six months to assess all these issues and take workable actions else, even if he makes pronouncement, he will be making caricature of himself because the issues will create more problems for us.
“For instance, if the governor decides to make pronouncement that people should come back to their places and suddenly, because of criminality, they are suddenly killed. who will they blame? They will blame the governor. They will say he brought Tiv people and his people, the Jukuns, went and killed them. Meanwhile it may not be the Jukun, it may be the Fulanis or even Tiv themselves because similar issue happened in Benue recently.
“But to show you that the governor is determine to end this crisis, you can see that all the Primary Schools in the Tiv dominated areas that have been destroyed are also part of the schools the governor is planning to renovate.
“The governor has again for the first time, in the history of Taraba State, budgeted 30 billion naira just for security in the State and he is determine to put in place, committees and sub committees in each of the Local Government Areas, who will knit in the bud any form of crisis that may ignite any where in any part of the state. He stressed.
The Majority leader who pointed out that the crisis had lasted for too long, encouraged the people to always expose all criminal elements among them so that they could be apprehended to face the full wrath of the law.
He called on spiritual persons in the stay to also subject the prolong crisis into fervent prayers, adding that some of the issues fuelling the crisis were spiritually controlled.
Earlier, the Tiv community in Wukari, had unanimously pleaded with the law maker to use his good office as one of their representatives to appeal with the Governor, His Excellency Dr Agbu Kefas to make a formal pronouncement for the Internally Displaced Persons in the area to return to their ancestral homes as their pains they said, were increasing day by day.
The people had also, appealed that the governor should consider the Tiv IDPs and assist them with some relief materials to help cushion the effect of the hardship they had been passing through for the past four and half years.
Recall that since 1st April, 2019 till date, the Tiv people who fled most part of Southern Taraba, especially Wukari Local Government Area following the communal clash between the Jukun and the Tiv, have not been resettled and any attempt to return back to their ancestral homes is either resisted by security agencies or Local authorities in the area.
The majority leader at this special interaction session, promised that, as a representative of the people, he would brief the governor on all the appeals made by the Tiv community and also discuss with him on the way forward on the prolong crisis, with a view to mapping up strategies that would bring the crisis to an end.
