Gov Kefas assures displaced Tiv persons safe return to ancestral homes
Jethro Yerga, Jalingo
The Executive Governor of Taraba State, Dr Agbu Kefas has assured the Tiv Community of Taraba State who fled to different states following the crisis between Tiv and Jukun in the Southern part of Taraba state that his administration was doing everything possible to ensure that all the Internally Displaced Persons returned to their various ancestral homes.
The governor gave this assurance at the occasion of the 2023 convention of the Tiv Cultural and Social Association held in Jalingo, the State Capital.
Represented at the occasion by the Majority Leader of the Taraba State House of Assembly, and Member representing Wukari 1 constituency Hon Jethro Yakubu, the governor noted that several issues had croped up following the crisis between Tiv and Jukun in the Southern part of the state and the government was working assiduously to address them before the safe return of the Internally Displaced Persons.
“We have issues of kidnapping, banditary, cow roastering and arm robbery going on in the areas. The government is working towards tackling all these issues. We are trying to restrategise to ensure that we have a conducive environment for people to come and continue with their daily activities.
“What the governor does not want is a situation where people will come back and they are attacked and then he doesn’t know where the attack is comming. The governor is appealing that he should be allowed a little time to restrategize so that when these Internally Displaced Persons are comming back into the various villages, there will be no issues of attacks”. He stated.
The governor also disclosed that he had rolled out an all encompassing palliative plan in the state which the committee in charge would in no distant time, fashion up a master plan that will curshion the hardship faced by the people of the state, adding that the Internally Displaced Persons would also not be left out of the arrangement.
Earlier in his speech, the newly inaugurated President General, Tiv Cultural and Social Association, Mr James Bakah, stated that his administration would try as much as possible to work closely with the state government, Emirs, and Chiefs of the state to expedite action for the quick return of the Tiv Internally Displaced Persons to their ancestral homes
Recall that since April 1, 2019, Tiv and Jukun people of the state, especially in Southern Taraba have been in a serious communal clash that claimed countless lives with villages around Wukari, the Administrative Headquarters of Wukari Local Government Area, home town of the incubent Governor Agbu Kefas, deserted by the Tiv communities who are taking refuge around neighbouring states like Nasarawa, Benue, Plateau and even beyond.
Meanwhile, the 2023 Convention of the Tiv Cultural and Social Association, witnessed speech making, inauguration of new officials, Cultural dance, paper presentation by Professor John Tyavbee Ajai on the topic : Harnessing Unity and Peace as the Ultimate Panacea for Achieving Tiv Emancipation, and presentation of awards to some distinguished personalities including the Executive Governor of Taraba State Dr Agbu Kefas, the Aku Uka of Wukari, Manu Ada Ali and other illustrious Tiv sons and daughters of Taraba State
