Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
Taraba state governor, Darius Ishaku has condemned the latest crisis on the Mambilla Plateau in Sardauna Local Government Area of the state.
In an interview with Sunday Sun, the Senior Special Assistant on Media to the governor, Mr Bala Dan Abu said that the crisis was not only unfortunate and unacceptable but totally uncalled for.
Abu said that the Plateau was a treasure not just to the state but the nation at large and an envy of the international community and called on the people to heed the governor’s advice and allow peace a chance for the ongoing development of the area to take its full course.
“The crisis is so unfortunate, unacceptable and uncalled for. It is an unnecessary waste of lives and property and it will only stall the ongoing development of the area.
“Mambilla is a national treasure and an envy of the international community. All that is needed now is for the people there to allow peace a chance so that ongoing projects there can continue and more investment would be attracted to the area. But you don’t achieve all that with the people continuously taking arms against one another. We need peace there”, he said.
Meanwhile, the Taraba State Police Command on Saturday expressed fear that the death toll in the attacks on villages on the might have risen even as normalcy was said to have returned to the troubled areas.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP David Misal disclosed this in an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Jalingo.
Misal, who confirmed that four persons lost their lives in last Thursday’s clash between the Fulani and native Mambillas in Inyiwa village, said a similar attack occurred in the late hours of Friday at Yerimaru village, where there are indications of casualty which the command was still investigating.
“I can confirm to you that there was a fight between the Fulani and Mambilla in Inyiwa and Yerimaru villages around Kakara, on the Mambilla plateau. So far, four persons have been confirmed dead from Inyiwa village but because of the remote nature of the area, we are still trying to figure out the exact number of casualties at Yerimaru village.
“Our men are already on ground there but since network is a challenge there, they can not reach us with the exact figures until they come out from the area to places where they can access network.
“What we know is that the crisis is between the Fulani’s and the Mambilla but we are still trying to figure out what precipitated the fight and ensure that no reprisals are allowed”, Misal said.
Misal assured that normalcy has returned to the troubled areas with massive deployment of security to forestall any further breakdown of law and order in the area.
“We are working with sister agencies to ensure that absolute peace returns to the affected areas. As at this morning, normalcy had returned and the people did not even had cause to flee their homes. Both the soldiers, NSCDC and other sister agencies are working with us as a team.”
He also confirmed that several houses were destroyed in both villages and other property destroyed.
It would be recalled that crisis in parts of the Mambilla between the Mambillas and Fulani in June last year led to the death of scores and wanton destruction of property and displacement of thousands.
This led to the constitution of a judicial panel of inquiry that is currently working to bring lasting peace to the area. The Fulani had however refused to appear before the panel to make inputs.
We pray that peace will return to that region. It is in the best interest of peace that all parties to the dispute should submit themselves to the panel of enquiries set up for that purpose. That being the case it is strange and worrisome that the fulani had refused to corporate with the panel, according to the statement. Nobody is above the law. Refusing to appear before the panel sends a wrong signal of one being a blood tasty aggressor. One who is not guilty of an alleged offence should be more willing to corporate with any panel of investigation. At a time when the issue of cattle colonies had been a burning one in the country which was regarded with suspicion of planting fulani settlements in various communities, disputes as stated above without the fulani corporating with the panel lend credence to the communities’ reluctance to accept such colonies.