WHY I’M AGAINST THE RETURN OF IDPS –WUKARI LG BOSS
Jethro Yerga, Jalingo
The Executive Chairman of Wukari Local Government Council, Hon Samaila Dauda, has denied the news in some media circles that he is colluding with the Nigerian Military to chase away some returning IDPs in Tor-iorshagher village, even as he expressed dismay over their return.
Hon Samaila Dauda, told our reporter, in a telephone conversation that the returning Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) failed to follow the due processes and the necessary procedures before returning to the area.
The chairman who said he had gone to Tor-Iorshagher on Tuesday, 23rd January, 2024 to caution the returning displaced persons on the wrong decision they have taken, insisted that the returning IDPs must have to follow the due processes and the necessary procedures before they would be allowed to resettle in the area.
“I was in Abuja when they were writing all sort of things concerning, the Traditional Council and myself. When I came back, I was told that some people came there, so I went there to hear their own views.
“They told me that they were coming from Benue State. I now asked them why didn’t they follow the proper channel to resettle there? Why didn’t they inform the state Government, the Local Government and the traditional council and they just come to stay there and ferment trouble?
“I also told them that their lives are precious to us. We don’t want anything that will bring about disturbance in Taraba State. What we want is peace in Wukari and Taraba as a whole” He told our reporter.
When asked whether he had asked the returning displaced persons to go back to where they came from, Hon Samaila simply said “I don’t know, I didn’t ask anybody to leave or to stay”.
Reacting to the position of the chairman, the community members, who spoke through their leaders, described the move as unfortunate, asserting that the chairman, who ought to be in the forefront of facilitating their safe return is erecting more hurdles against them.
Mr Aondo Igba who spoke on behalf of the community members, told our reporter that:
“The Chairman came to our village and told us to go back to where we came from, insisting that we must follow the laid down procedures before coming back to resettle here. We pleaded with him that, in our impression, the crisis is over and we are no longer comfortable with taking refuge in strange lands for over four years, so he should allow us to stay and mend our destroyed houses to enable us have a place to put our heads during the raining season.
“We promised him that, in our own part, we will be law abiding and will continue to cooperate with the local government leadership in particular and the authorities in general, so as to sustain the peace, which the Governor Agbu Kefas led administration is working assiduously to bring in place.
Mr Aondo, stated that their leaders had met severally with the Chief of Rafinkada who is heading their domain and had informed him of their decision to return home since the crisis was over.
He wondered why the Wukari Local Government Chairman, Hon Dauda Samaila who is privy to their plight, would throw his sense of justice, mercy and sympathy to the wind and be approaching their situation as a group of people that came from nowhere to settle in Tor-Iorshagher village.
Mr Igba urged the chairman, to live up to his responsibility as the Chief Law Officer of the Local Government and provide security for them, instead of profiling them as a group of trouble- seeking people, who came from Benue to settle where they are not supposed to be.
“We keep wondering the logic behind the chairman’s position. We are no longer fighting with the Jukuns. Tiv people are in good number in Wukari town, moving freely and safely and cohabiting friendly with their Jukun brothers. This is an indication that peace has returned.
“All we need from the authorities is protection against bad elements, who might wish to take advantage of our vulnerable condition to disrupt our activities. We least expect that the chairman would come and push us back to where we were languishing in pains and penury for the past four years, in the name of due process.” Mr Igba lamented.
Mr Igba appreciated the Executive Governor of Taraba State, Dr Agbu Kefas for the various efforts he is making to see that they return to their ancestral homes safely and prayed that God should nourish him with more wisdom to end permanently the age long crisis between Tiv and Jukun.
The Chairman, Tiv Cultural and Social Association, Wukari Local Government, Mr Aondoawase Tar who said he was on transit, told our reporter that they had earlier attended a meeting on the issue of the returned IDPs to vacate the area, at the instance of the Vice Chairman of the Local Government who represented his boss, where it was resolved that as soon as the Chairman, Hon Samaila Dauda comes back, there would be a reconvened and expanded meeting for more deliberations, but he was not aware that the chairman had returned or had gone to Tor-Iorshagher
One of the returning IDPs Mr Chiega Aondofa, called on the Taraba State and Federal Government, to come to their aid by providing them adequate security with relief materials to mitigate the effects of their sufferings.
Our reporter gathered that the people of Tor-Iorshagher village, a farming Tiv population, who fled the community over four years, as a result of the Tiv-Jukun crisis, are now back in good numbers.
Tor-Iorshagher village is located about 15km away from Wukari, along Wukari-Takum Road, in Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State.
