The Chairman, Senate Committee on Social Warfare and Poverty Alleviation, David Jimkuta, has raised the alarm over the rise in killings in Taraba State.
Jimkuta, who represents Taraba South, said over 700 persons had been killed in Ussa and Takum local councils within three months.
  
Addressing journalists, yesterday, in his Wukari hometown, he expressed grave concern over the escalating banditry that left more than 50 villages in Ussa and Takum in ruins.
  
The senator particularly highlighted the dire situation in Ussa, where rampant banditry forced farmers to abandon their fields, raising the alarm on impending food crisis in the state.
  
Calling on security agencies to take decisive action, Jimkuta urged collaborative efforts with locals to gather accurate information and launch targeted attacks on the bandits.  He emphasised the urgency of flushing out the criminals from their hideouts to allow farmers to resume their crucial agricultural activities.
  
“We know where they are; let us flush them out. These areas are major food producers, and with people displaced and unable to access their villages, there is a looming food crisis,” he warned.
  
The senator urged President Bola Tinubu to declare an emergency on security in the Takum-Ussa areas.  Such a declaration, he said, would pave the way for essential measures to be taken, enabling farmers to return to their farmlands and begin rebuilding their lives in the face of this unprecedented threat to the region’s food security.