14 feared killed in Taraba village attack A fresh orgy of violence Sunday swept across Taraba State as unknown gunmen invaded Sondi village in Wukari Local Government Area, destroying property worth millions of naira and killing about 14 persons. Confirming the report to The Guardian, the state Commissioner of Police, Ademola Omole, said the attackers are suspected “to be armed Fulani men.” He, however, said that contrary to the casualty figures, about seven people were feared dead while others sustained various degrees of injuries. Stressing that measures to restore normalcy have been put in place by the police, Omole noted that “we are fully on ground. I have sent more of our men to the area and peace has returned there.” Also speaking on the attack, the National President of the Nigeria Association of Wapan Students ( NAWAS), Tsokwa Addanti Ajidik, said that the attackers stormed the village at about 8 a.m. He frowned at what he called the lukewarm attitude of security operatives whom, according to him, had prior knowledge of the invasion. According to him: “ We are not happy with the security operatives because they were aware that these attackers will be invading our village, because they informed us, but yet the security operatives could not prevent such an attack.” While citing the lukewarm attitude of the state government in ending the incessant killings, Ajidik called for Federal Government’s intervention to check the prevailing violence in the state. He also faulted the members representing the area in the State House of Assembly, stating that most of the areas being attacked by the insurgents were those being represented by the speaker of the House of Assembly, and yet he is doing nothing to prevent them. The State House of Assembly last Wednesday passed a vote of confidence on the Acting Governor, Garba Umar , whom they said, had restored peace to the troubled region of the state. Also, Umar in a recent parley with journalists in Abuja , said that those taking refuge at the various Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps would soon go back to their homes , noting that the government had set up a committee that would facilitate the action as peace, according to him, has finally returned to the state. However, at the time of filing in this report, neighbouring Benue State was still playing host to persons fleeing the crisis area in Taraba State.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 07:49:09 +0000