Herdsmen Allegedly Kill 60, Displace Dozens in Taraba Communities
By Ozumi Abdul
No fewer than 60 people have been reportedly killed and dozens displaced by suspected herdsmen in Ussa communities in Taraba state.
This was disclosed by the member representing the Ussa State Constituency in the Taraba State House of Assembly, Habila Anderifun, on Saturday during a press conference in Jalingo, the state capital.
Anderifun revealed that at least 60 people had been killed and thousands displaced in recent attacks on communities in Ussa, Takum and Yangtu Special Development Area by suspected herdsmen.
He said the communities had come under coordinated and sustained attacks by suspected herdsmen who had dislodged thousands of people from their ancestral homes and forced them into Internally Displaced Persons’ camps.
According to the lawmaker, six soldiers, including the Commanding Officer of Ada Barracks, Takum, were killed by the bandits in the area and he wondered why the Federal Government had not deemed it fit to take the war to the armed bandits terrorising the people of the area.
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“The situation in Ussa is terribly bad and we would bring out documentary evidence to support our claims at the right time. For now, we want the United Nations (UN) and the international community to turn their attention to ongoing killings, which can be likened to genocide, in Ussa and parts of Takum and Yangtu, which is capable of wiping the entire people out of the map of Nigeria.
“The killings and mutilation of the bodies of the victims in Ussa constitute a crime against humanity and we urge the federal government to take urgent steps to end these senseless killings because it is the primary responsibility of the government to protect the lives and property of her citizens anywhere in this country.
“We are documenting carefully all that is going on in the area and failure to end the killings we shall not hesitate to take legitimate and lawful means to seek justice for the people of Ussa.
“Reports from these communities indicate that the deserted communities have been taken over by herdsmen who now graze freely on people’s farms and homes,” he lamented.
He called on the National Emergency Management Agency, the State Emergency Management Agency and other aid organisations and spirited individuals to intervene in the provision of shelter, protection, water, food and non-food relief items to address the growing humanitarian needs of the IDPs.
This is as he called on the state government to set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the remote and immediate causes of the crisis with the view to finding a lasting solution to the conflict.
