Govt Ishaku’s silence over Ussa killings worries kuteb leader.
The National President of the Kuteb Yatso of Nigeria and former chairman, Taraba State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Emmanuel Ukwen, has expressed worry over continuous silence of the Executive Governor of Taraba state, Arc Darius Dickson Ishaku in the ongoing crises between Kuteb and Fulani people in Takum and parts of Ussa Local Government Areas of Taraba State which he said had claimed over 40 lives.
The president, during a media interaction with journalists in Jalingo, stated that most villages in the area have been reduced to ashes and properties worth millions of naira destroyed aside the lives claimed by the killers in the area.
He stated that despite all the killings and destruction of properties in the area, the government of the state had not for once, come out in any of the State Media Houses or any other media to condemn the killings, not to talk of providing parliatives or relief materials to the displace persons.
In his word, “there is killing spree in the area and so many people have been displaced. However, what baffled us most is that the State Government’s silence on what could best be described as genocide in the area. We are deeply worried that since the beginning of the killings, the government has not make any pronouncement about this unfortunate act.
“We expect the government to come out and make a statement condeming these attacks. This will go along way to scare perpetrator of this evil act. But we are surprised that there is zero government presence except for the intervention of the Army Officers who were attacked and six of them killed including their Commanding Officer who was captured live and taken away. it’s quite surprising”. He stated.
While narrating how it all started, the president said about two months ago, a Kuteb boy went to his farm and saw cows feeding on his cassava. “The boy confronted the Fulani boy to find out why he had decided to embark on such evil act but the Fulani boy and his brothers decended on him heavily with their cutlasses and before he was rushed to the hospital, he died”.
He said agrieved Kuteb youth immediately embarked on a reprisal attack, given room for the crisis.
According to Mr Emmanuel Ukwen, the crisis which started from Ussa Local Government Area was gradually taming down following the intervention of a peace committee set to mediate the two parties but at a point, the people began to suspect infiltration of foreigners and bandits who took advantage of the already vulatile situation to kill and mime people in the area.
He explained that the recent attack on the Military Officers at Tati Village who were mounted in the area to ensure calm could also be attributed to the activities of the foreigners and the bandits they had been suspecting to have infiltrated the crisis.
Mr. Uwen however, expressed satisfaction that the intervention of military officers deployed in the area to dislodge the bandits is gradually yielding result.
He expressed hope that the security operatives would continue to do their work professionally inorder to reveal sponsors of the infiltrated bandits and bring them to book to enable normalcy returned in the area.
