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Our Reporter.
Fear and tension has griped the Tiv community of Taraba State Sunday, as yet to confirm number of people were brutally killed in the hub of Wukari, the home town of the newly inaugurated governor of Taraba state.
Sources said trouble started when Jukun Militia who had destroyed Tse-Akinde, a village in Donga Local Government Area of Taraba State, clashed with gunmen suspected to be Tiv milita on their way back from the attack.
According to the sources, two persons were killed at the instance of the clash and were subsequently taken to Wukari town.
They said when the corpse arrived Wukari, the Jukun youth who were infuriated took laws into their hands resulting to killing of innocent persons.
Reports revealed that several persons were forcefully pulled out from vehicles and taken to unknown destinations, between Byepi and Takum Junction and between Federal University and Ioryina, Wukari-Zaki Biam road respectively.
Narrating the ordeal to our reporter on telephone, one of the women who narrowly escaped the attack stated that about six persons were pulled out and taken to an unknown destinations from the vehicle she boarded from Dan-Anacha to Zaki Biam.
“We just entered into the mammoth crowd of youth and women carrying different weapons and sticks in Wukari around Tsukundi Junction. They barricated the Federal road and when our driver stopped, they forcefully pulled out about six persons in our vehicle and took them in the bush.
“As am talking to you now, several persons are been chase and killed in and around the town.
Mr Aondonengen whose brother was a victim of the attacks said the corpse of his brother alongside another victim who could not escaped the attack were deposited in a mutually in Kyado, one of the nearby towns in Benue State.
Though the Local Government Boss, the Head of Local Government Administration (HOLGA) who is now in charge of the Council, could not be reached, the Police Public Relations Officer PPRO, SP Abdullahi Usman confirmed the killings.
He however, stated that only three persons were killed in the ugly situation and few others sustained various degrees of injuries.
“We received a report that some Tiv militia had block Wukari-Tsukundi road and killed two Jukun youths and in a reprisal attack, the Jukun youth attacked some Tiv persons around Wukari Yam Market and Tsukundi Junction and killed one person why several others were severely injured.
“The Police, Military and other Security Agencies in the town however, intervened swiftly and brought the matter to control. Right now, the place is calm and everyone is going about his normal business”. He added.
Recall that this is not the first time the town is experiencing this killing spree. Recently, three persons were killed along Wukari Jandekyula Junction. They had taken some hundreds of yam to Wukari Yam market and were been expected back home later in the evening.
The time was getting late and non of them was seen back home, relatives begun intensive search and later discovered that they had left the market for home. It was in the issueing dilema that some of the relatives decided they would come to Wukari and trace them. On their way to the town, they discovered the three lifless bodies by the roadside near the junction.
Similarly, a middle-aged man of the name Daniel Bala Benedict, was killed on his farm located around Wapan Nghaku axis of Wukari local government Area by unknown gunmen. A source account that, after shooting him in the head, the gunmen uses his phone to call his wife but unfortunately, the search party only discovered his lifeless body in a pool of blood when they arrived at the scene.
In a swift reaction, suspected to be a reprisal to the killing of Mr. Daniel, two heltic innocent young men of Tiv extraction, were gruesomely murdered within Wukari town, one around General Hospital and the other around Marmara Primary School Wukari.
“Mr. Aondofa Tarnongo whom his brother was among the victims that lost their lives in the reckless killings, lamented that so many of his community members who had fled their ancestral homes had not returned to their areas, the development he said had given room for criminal elements to take advantage and unleash mainhem on innocent people especially commoners trying to make ends meet in one way or the other.
He called on the state government to come to their aid and put the matter to an end by resetlling the displaced persons in the abandon homes so as to close all the hide out of the criminals whom he expressed fear may terminate many lives especially now that farming season was by the corner.
Our check revealed that since 2019 till date, the Tiv people who fled most part of Wukari Local Government Area following the communal clash between the Jukun and the Tiv, were not resettled by the Government of Taraba State and any attempt to return back to their ancestral homes was either resisted by security Agencies or Local authorities in the area.
With the new administration now in place, the people are hoping that the governor, Dr Agbu Kefas (Rtd) would not follow the way of Governor Ishaku but would take proactive majors to end the crisis, resettled the displaced persons and stop the unwarranted killing of innocent persons in the axis.