Barely four days after the burial of Rev. Fr. David Tanko who was gruesomely murdered and set ablaze by armed men, the Catholic Diocese of Jalingo, has raised alarm over plans by armed herdsmen to launch fresh attacks on communities in Zing Local Government Area of the state.
The Chairman of the Diocesan Laity Council, Edward Tatah raised the alarm at a press briefing in Jalingo on Saturday.
Tatah said that it had become expedient to draw attention to the plan in time, drawing lessons from previous experiences when such planned attacks were ignored as mere rumours, but at a regrettably high cost of human lives and property.
“Gentlemen, you are aware that recent attacks on some Kona villages by armed herdsmen left over seventy persons dead, over two hundred injured and thousands displaced with their homes, farms and other property destroyed. As we speak, their farms have become grazing grounds for the marauding herdsmen. We heard about the plans for these attacks but took them for granted and we paid dearly for it with the lives of our loved ones,” he said.
Tatah explained that there are strong speculations the next place where the herdsmen will launch attacks was Zing Local Government Area and its environs.
“We cannot afford to regard this information as mere rumours any longer, lest the armed militia take us unawares again. It is clear that the killer herdsmen have an agenda that they want to execute at all cost,” he said.
He called on the security agencies to take proactive measures to forestall this evil from befalling us again.
“In the light of the numerous security challenges, the Council recommends the creation of Peace and Conflict Resolution Commission to be saddled with the responsibility of promoting peace and resolving conflicts in the state. The Council so recommends that a strong and urgent security arrangement should be put in place to enable the displaced persons to return to their villages and their homes as soon as possible so that they can begin to put the pieces of their lives together,” he noted.
BusinessDay recalls that several villages in Jalingo and Ardo Kola Local Government Areas of Taraba State belonging mostly to the Kona people were attacked in a series of attacks, resulting in several deaths and leaving thousands stranded at various Internally Displaced Persons camps in the state.
