To underscore their frustration with the persistent communal clash between the Tiv and Jukun, hundreds of Taraba State indigenes and other concerned citizens yesterday staged a peaceful protest in Abuja.
They urged President Muhammadu Buhari to end the violence that has claimed many lives.
In a correspondence addressed to President Buhari, and signed by Mike Msuaan and Solomon Adodo, the protesters said the government should move against those that they alleged were undermining the peace, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the nation.
The protesters, under the aegis of Tiv Youth Council, Guardians of Democracy and Development, and civil society organizations, urged Buhari to direct all the relevant security agencies to thoroughly investigate the masterminds of the crisis, and if found wanting, prosecute them appropriately to serve as a deterrent to others.
The groups maintained that the Jukun and Tiv could live harmoniously together and chart a course for mutually beneficial engagements if the masterminds of violence were isolated and dealt with.
The protesters were confined to the Abuja Unity Fountain by a contingent of heavily armed security personnel.
The inability of the state government to end the hostilities between the Tiv and Jukun has no doubt become a source of worry to the people and their fellow Nigerians.
The quarrel which started as a child’s play in Kente village of Wukari Local Government in April this year has not only led to massive loss of lives and property but has compelled travellers, especially those of Tiv and Jukun extractions, to access their various communities through alternative routes.
The two ethnic groups who are not ready to sheathe their swords despite efforts by the government, individuals and groups to resolve the issue, have continued to kill and maim each other along the highway.
Travelling along the Wukari and Katsina-Ala highways, as observed by The Guardian, is now a nightmare to the indigenes. While the Tiv living in Jalingo, the state capital and in the neighbouring Adamawa State, now travel through Gombe, Bauchi and Jos to access Benue State, the Jukun also go extra miles to be able to access Wukari which is the headquarters of the Jukun kingdom.
But a Jukun lady who also spoke with The Guardian at one of the motor parks in Jalingo said: “As I am talking to you now, I am just arriving from Abuja. Ordinarily, I was supposed to travel through Markudi and the Wukari, but as you have seen, the killing of Jukun by the Tiv along the Tiv villages left me with no choice than to pass through this long distance.”
Some indigenes said the killings would have stopped had Governor Darius Ishaku visited the affected communities and engaged leaders of the two tribes in a dialogue.
A traditional ruler, who did not want his name published, said had the government deemed it fit to act when necessary “these killings between the Tiv and the Jukun would not have lasted this long.”
An indigene said that the governor’s seeming inaction might have been due to his ethnic background and that of his wife. While the governor is from the Jukun race, his wife, Anna, as observed, is a Tiv, a situation which is believed to have made it difficult for Ishaku to throw his weight behind any of the ethnic groups.
A top government official in the state said: “The truth is that the governor is disturbed about what is going on between his Jukun people and his wife’s people (Tiv). I think he is being careful in order not to be seen as supporting either of the groups. The situation is also making it difficult for him to select his cabinet because there is pressure on him not to give an appointment to any of the Tiv people in the state.” (Punch)