FRESH ETHNIC VIOLENCE CLAIM 20 LIVES, 300 COWS STOLEN IN TARABA
‘’At least 20 people are feared killed, looting of houses, shops and burning down to ashes by the Mambilla militias along Tapare and Yerimaru axis have been recorded here in Sardauna LGA of Taraba State.‘About 12 others were also wounded and are on admission at a hospital in Gembu,’’ Nguroje said.
The lawmaker representing Nguroje and Gembu constituency in the state House of Assembly, Bashir Muhammad, confirmed the latest violence, stating that there have been silent and systematic killings of Fulani nomadic herdsmen in the remote areas in Mambilla Plateau.
‘’It is unfortunate that while efforts are being made to restore peace, the killings continued unabated and many people feared killed between Thursday to Sunday, just as dozens of livestock were killed or injured. I was even told that over 200 cows were rustled’, he said.
The lawmaker added, “Security is grossly in adequate because some of the affected villages are remote and in hinterlands that can take one or two hours to be reached. We want presence of more security, particularly soldiers to ensure peace,’’
The State Governor, Darius Ishaku, while reacting to the incidents through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Emmanuel Bello, called for an end to the violence.
He said ‘’Anyone who takes any life, irrespective of religion or tribe, is a criminal, whether it is on the summits of Mambilla or the plains of Southern Taraba and anywhere in this state. And we shall deal with them as criminals.”
The governor said, he , ‘’was committed to an amicable resolution of the crisis in the state and peaceful co-existence of all ethnic nationalities,” attributing the renewed crisis to “disagreement between two ethnic groups.”
But the Police Command through its spokesperson, David Misal, said four people were confirmed killed from both sides of the ethnic groups in the conflict, adding that security officials had been dispatched to the area to restore peace, but that no arrest had been made.
