Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo

The Taraba State government has announced the review of curfew imposed on Jalingo and Wukari following massive looting of both public and private property in the two towns as a fallout of the#EndSARS protest from 24 hours to 12 hours.

The State deputy governor Alhaji Haruna Manu who disclosed in a statement signed by Musleem Aruwa who is the Senior Special Assistant to the Deputy Governor on New Media said that the curfew is from 6pm to 7am till further notice.

“The Taraba state government has relaxed the 24 hour curfew imposed on Jalingo, the state capital and Wukari local government area. The curfew will now run from 6:00pm to 7:00am until further notice. Government will continue to monitor the situation until normalcy is restored completely. As usual, law-abiding citizens can go about their legitimate businesses as government and other security agencies have adopted tougher safeguards to protect lives and property.

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“However,Persons with useful information on the criminal elements in our midst, especially those involved in the recent looting should kindly tip the security agencies nearest to them. Similarly, those who took part in the shameful looting of public and private property should return such items to their ward heads, village/Districts heads or the local government chairmen as these categories of leaders have been directed to collate these looted items for safekeeping so that they can be returned to government and other private businesses affected” the statement read in part.

In a related development, the state police command has announced the launching of search and recovery operation for looted items from the homes of the looters.

The command spokesperson DSP David Misal said that “the Taraba State Police Command wishes to inform the general public particularly those in custody of looted property that, in our determination and unrelenting effort to recover and prosecute offenders, the Command will be embarking on search, arrest and recovery operations. This is aimed at identifying the looters as well as buyers of such property.

“In view of the above the Commissioner of Police advised that whosoever has in his custody any such property to return it to the police on or before 31/10/2020 otherwise if found will be made to face the full weight of the law. The general public is urged to identify and report to the police any person(s) reasonably suspected to be in possession of such property” Misal said.

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