Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
Gunmen, suspected to be herdsmen, killed four members of a family in a midnight attack on, Wednesday, at Mbayi, in Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State.
Executive Chairman of Takum Local Government Area, Hon. Shiban Tikare, who confirmed the incident, said that a nine-months-old baby mysterious survived when the attackers stormed the village around 2:00am on Wednesday and slaughtered the four family members who were deep asleep.
His words, “We heard gunshots around 1:00am along Takum -Ussa road and while we were making efforts to mobilise policemen men to the area, we heard sporadic gunshots at Mbiya Central, a community just at the outskirts of Takum town here.
“By the time we got there, family of five; a man, his wife and two children were slaughtered like chickens.
“A baby mysteriously survived the attack. The attackers whom we suspect to be Fulani herdsmen also attacked Basam, a village close to Gen. Theophilus Danjuma’s farm and set the whole village ablaze,” he said.
Tikare lamented that the killings were going on in the area despite the extension of Exercise Ayem Akpatuma (Cat Race) in the area.
According to him, instead of combing the villages to flush out the attackers, the Army were busy brutalising people in the town, adding the people were disappointed with the exercise he said was not “yielding the desired results”.
Police Public Relations Officer, David Misal, confirmed the attack in Takum but said casualty figures were still not clear.
Takum is the home town of Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (rtd) and Governor Darius Ishaku.