Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo

Residents of Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State have lamented the alleged looting of property belonging to the Tiv by Jukun tribal militias, days after unrest in the area claimed lives.

Leader of the Tiv in Takum, Mr. Nathaniel Jato told our correspondent that six houses were burnt and four others vandalised and property looted in his area allegedly by by Jukun youths.

Jato who said the disputed land in question where the Jukun man was allegedly killed was far from his house and wondered why his family was the target.

He explained that the said land was being disputed by the Tamti family (a Chamba), a Tiv and a Kuteb man and wondered why fingers were only being pointed at the Tiv people over the death of one Emmanuel Njira.

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“In a civilised society like ours, if something of this nature happens, it is only proper to conduct investigation before arriving at a conclusion. So the situation where people take laws into their hands and start killing people and burning their properties without recourse to the rule of law is highly regrettable,” he said.

Meanwhile, some students of Kwararafa University, Wukari, on Saturday appealed to Governor Darius Ishaku to end the crisis between the Jukun and the Tiv in southern Taraba as the crisis was affecting their academic life and threatening the peace of the entire zone and state.

Mr.  Joshua Agbu while reacting to the continuous unrest in the area, lamented that 80 per cent of the lecturers in the university were Tiv who had since fled the crisis.

“As it stands now, we are not sure of covering our course outlines as majority of the lecturers in the university who are Tiv have left. We want to plead with Governor Darius Ishaku to urgently look into this crisis before our academic calendar is disrupted.”

Our correspondent recalls that crisis erupted in Takum earlier in the week following the killing of Mr.  Emmanuel Njira on a farm along Takum-Wukari road, in what is considered a spill over effect of the hostilities between the Tiv and Jukun in Wukari local government that led to the closure of Federal University, Wukari, and calls by stakeholders for the relocation of the school for security reasons.