Reprisal attack in Taraba as Tiv-Jukun killings persist
Barely three days after the joint security meeting between stakeholders from Taraba and Benue states, following recent inter-ethnic crisis between the Tiv and Jukun communities, a fresh outbreak of killings, again, erupted in the early hours of yesterday in Wukari Council when youths suspected to be from one of the ethnic groups attacked their perceived rival by shooting sporadically.
The situation, coming on Good Friday, has made it difficult for Christians in the area to celebrate the Easter season, as it has compel the people to seek an alternative safe places of abode.
Confirming the report, Chairman of the Council, Adi Daniel, said youths suspected to be Tiv stormed his council at the “early hours of today (yesterday) and began to shoot at my people.”
Wondering why a fresh crisis would erupt when both parties have earlier agreed to sheathe their swords and embrace peace, he called on the authority to do the needful, “because are now living in fear.”
A joint security meeting led by the deputy governors of both state was last week convened at the premises of the Federal University Wukari in Taraba State, where both ethnic groups unanimously agreed to give peace a chance.
Also confirming the attack, the state Police Command spokesman, David Misal, said the crisis was not a fresh outbreak, but a reprisal attack by “some suspected hoodlums from neighbouring Benue State.”
He also confirmed that the hoodlums attacked some villages in Wukari and set several houses ablaze, saying normalcy was gradually returning to the areas, a development confirmed by an eyewitness, who said people had started returning to their homes.
The number of casualties or wounded remained unknown.
While the two states have been enmeshed in communal crisis for the past two weeks, both Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku of Taraba and his Benue State counterpart, Samuel Ortom, have been out of their states.
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