Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
The Taraba State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP David Misal, has confirmed that normalcy was returning to the crisis-torn area of Kente, in Wukari Local Government Area of the state following the deployment of security personnel to the area.
Misal who disclosed this to newsmen in Jalingo on Monday said that attempts by the attackers to invade Wukari town on Sunday night was repelled by a team of security operatives stationed in the area.
“I can confirm to you that normalcy is gradually returning to the area. In fact, an attempted attack on Wukari town was repelled last night and with the heavy deployment of our men to the area; we believe that normalcy will return fully.”
Meanwhile, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Mr David Kente, has called on the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other relevant humanitarian organisations to urgently come to the aid of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the ongoing Tiv/Jukun crisis in Wukari LGA of Taraba.
Kente who spoke with journalists on Monday in Wukari after he visited some of the displaced persons said that the IDPs displaced from their homes in some communities in Wukari were currently going through serious hardships.
He said “hundreds of the displaced persons, including women and children, who are currently taking refuge in primary schools within Kente and Wukari are going through untold hardships without water, food and other basic needs, are in dire need of urgent intervention. If there is no urgent intervention; I see the IDPs going into serious humanitarian crisis.
Similarly, the chairman of Wukari Local government Mr. Daniel Adi, who confirmed that normalcy was gradually returning to the area, said that the IDPs were in dire need of food, water and medical attention.
He added that a total of about 500 displaced persons were scattered in Kente, Wukari and neighbouring villages.
Adi who said the requirements of the displaced persons were beyond the capacity of the local government, appealed to the state and Federal governments to come to the aid of the displaced persons.
He said the council had summoned an emergency meeting between the two disputing ethnic groups to find a lasting solution to the conflict.
Our correspondent recalls that over 12 persons have been killed and several houses destroyed following communal clashes in Kente area.