Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State, Thursday, called on the Nigerian government to come to the aid of his people over threat of attack by suspected herdsmen militia.
Darius, while addressing journalists at the PDP national secretariat yesterday, said Takum had become vulnerable in the past few weeks, claiming that the people were facing grave danger in the hands of militia.
According to him, “In the southern part of Taraba, the military has been withdrawn, but that is not only the case. We are still being harassed by the herdsmen. The military has taken over the job of the Police and “bombarding” people’s houses at 2 am, arresting youths and locking them up.
“Two of these youths are missing and we understand that they are with the military and being transferred to the Abuja military headquarters. I asked for the reason. Nobody has confronted me with the reason. All I was told was that they committed a crime which nobody has told me about as the Chief Executive Officer of the state.”
He also lamented that the Takum council chairman had been asked by the Nigeria Police to report to them, saying “I don’t know what is happening. The armed forces are not protecting the people against the killer herdsmen but are now going around arresting the youths in the town. This is what led to the demonstration of the women last week. Now the situation is getting really bad.
“I am now calling on the federal government to order the military to bring back those boys that were arrested and allow the police to do their job if indeed, they are criminals.’’
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