No fewer than eight people have lost their lives while over 3000 people have been displaced in a communal clash between Ichen and Daka people in the Kurmi Local Government Area of Taraba State.
It was learnt that properties worth millions of naira were destroyed in the incident that happened in Bisaula and Gwanda communities.
Confirming the incident, the President, Ichen Cultural Development Association, Dr. Bibinu Ahmed, affirmed that four of his people were killed, while Kefas Magaji of Chamba-Dakka also confirmed that one person was killed in Bisaula and three at Gwanda.
According to the report, trouble started in December 2021 when Ndaka people made attempts to install another village head in Bisaula and were resisted by the Ichen people who claimed to be the original inhabitants of the area.
Ahmed who spoke with newsmen in Jalingo on Friday said Governor Darius Ishaku had on the 28th December, called a meeting in Baissaula few days after the first attack on Bisaula and suspended the village head, Umaru Danbaki, who died 19 days after on January 16.
Ahmed who blamed the state government for the escalation of the conflict, also accused the state government of abandoning the installation of an Ichen ruler in Kurmi Local government, stopping the selection process of village head of Zaga in Bali local government after the court threw out the application of the Chamba people.
“After the suspension of the village head, the elders forwarded the name of Baba Umaru Gambo for appointment as the new Wakili (an Ichen man), but later the Local Government chairman sent the name of Mallam Rabiu, a Ndola man as the preferred candidate of the Governor as Wakili Bisaula.
“Several Tigun and Ndola village heads have passed on in the past and nobody from other tribes was appointed Wakili in such places.
“The unprovoked attack on our people in Bisaula was based on fake stories that the Ndaka people conquered the area 200 years ago. This is unacceptable,” Bibinu said.
However, the Governor’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Bala Dan-Abu, said Governor Darius Ishaku was the governor of all ethnic groups in Taraba State and would not take side on issues affecting two or more ethnic groups.
Dan-Abu asserted that the governor had access to information about the state more than any other person and when he took decisions, such decisions were in the best interest of the state.
