From Godwin Agia, Jalingo
The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State, the home town of Governor, Dr Agbu Kefas, have decided to resettle themselves in some of their displaced homes after five years of neglect and are calling on the State Government and Security Agencies to come to their aid to enable them go about their normal businesses.
The IDPs in their numbers, including pregnant women and children settled at Tor-Iorshagher, along Wukari-Rafinkada Road and Wukari-Tsukundi Road with virtually no food items and mattresses for healthy shelter.
It was gathered that they decided to return to their places because, local authorities in the area have already started distributing their lands as they kept waiting for the State Government to resettle them but to no avail after three years of cease fire in the fight between Jukun and Tiv communities which lasted for about five years now.
Mr Aondonengen Torkuma, one of the IDPs, a father of six children who looked almost hopeless, told our correspondent that thousands of their brothers were wondering in pains since the crisis began in 2019.
He stated that thousands of their villages located between Wukari to Jootar, Wukari to Rafinkada, Wukari to Ibi and Wukari to Tsukundi are gradually becoming deserts as herdsmen grace freely on the graves of their ancestors which they abandoned as a result of the crisis that lasted for five years.
“We waited patiently for the former governor of the state, Arc Darius Dickson Ishaku, to resettle the IDPs when he called for cease fire, but later on, we discovered that there was no honesty in his call for peace. His kinsmen were rather sharing the lands and graves of our ancestral fathers and some were Selling them out. We learnt that he allegedly claimed to have bought some of the homes using his power as the Governor of the State.
“But we are hopeful that, the present Governor, Dr Agbu Kefas, been a pastor and a dedicated Christian, who has the peace and development of the state at heart, will never tour the same path with Darius Ishaku.
“We want to appeal to the Governor to give us security cover to enable us continue with our normal activities since there is no more fight between we and our Jukun brothers, his kinsmen”.
