Al-makura meets Jonathan over Nasarawa killings

• as 25 die in fresh Eggon/Gwandara clash

From Ali Abare Abubakar, Lafia

Following a fresh outbreak of hostilities involving Eggon and Gwandara youths, Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura of Nasarawa state has resolved to meet with President Goodluck Jonathan over the lingering security challenges, with a view to taking measures to forestall further occurrences.

The resolution was arrived at the end of an emergency state Security Council meeting which held yesterday at the Government House, Lafia, with security chiefs operating in the state as well as representative of the traditional council and top government functionaries in attendance.

Briefing journalists shortly after the meeting, state Commissioner of Police, Ibrahim Idris, explained that the council met in order to discuss matters relating to the crisis in Igga, which he said led to the loss of several lives and destruction to property, with multitudes displaced from their abodes.

He stated that following intense deliberations over the security situation in the state, the council agreed that Governor Al-makura will meet the president on some of the issues raised during the meeting.

While noting that so many members of the community in Igga were displaced into various parts of the state, the CP assured that the police and other security agencies are carrying full investigations into the incidence, stressing that measures are being put in place to provide shelter for displaced persons.

“On the part of the security situation in Igga, the council decided for the governor to meet with the president to highlight some of the pressing issues bordering on security in the state” the CP stated.

Some of the security issues listed by CP Idris include the sacking of Igga community which has occurred twice in the recent past, with the recent incident taking place barely two months after the community members returned to the area.

The CP appealed for the cooperation of the public towards providing relevant information that could lead to the arrest of the perpetrators of the Igga carnage as according to him, “some of these incidences cannot just be allowed to go. We have to conduct a thorough investigation and those found wanting in mass murders and destruction of property are made to face the laws of the land.”

It could be recalled that, 25 persons were reportedly killed at the weekend, in Igga community of Nasarawa Eggon local government area, when youths suspected to be members of the outlawed Ombatse, laid siege on the small community, over a slight argument over ownership of a farm.

As at the time of filing this report, security operatives dispatched to the area were being hindered as they embarked on recovering corpses, with the Ombatse allegedly firing into the air intermittently.