The Bauchi State Police Command has disagreed with a Member of the State House of Assembly, Gazali Wunti, who claimed that an unspecified number of people were killed in a border clash between the Gungura community in Ganjuwa Local Government Area of the state and the Buri-Buri community in Dukku Local Government Area of Gombe State.
Wunti, who represents Ganjuwa East Constituency, previously stated that individuals from Dukku LGA in Gombe State assaulted a hamlet called Bara in Gungura ward.
Speaking on the floor of the House on Wednesday under topics of urgent public interest, he said the event occurred on Tuesday at 3:00 a.m., adding that the occurrence had been reoccurring for some time but that efforts to resolve the disagreements had failed.
The Lawmaker said, “So many committees were formed in the past to resolved the border disputes but all efforts ended in futility.
“They have been attacking the people of the area and destroying their properties and now it even include loss of lives.”
But the Police Public Relations Officer, Bauchi State Command, Ahmed Wakil, who confirmed the incident, however, said no life was lost in the incident.
Speaking with journalists on Thursday said, Wakil said, “It is not true that lives were lost in the crisis that involved the communities. The truth of the matter is that, some communities from Gombe State cross the river, invaded some farms of Bauchi communities in Ganjuwa Local Government areas.
“The attackers started shooting sporadically in the air, they destroyed the farms and left. They did not kill anybody from the report received by the command.
“The District head of one of the affected communities informed the police who visited the area and restored law and order.
“After the incident, the commissioner of police of Bauchi and Gombe State summoned a meeting between the police commands, Special advisers on security who represented the State Governors, Commissioner of youth sports, local governments chairmen traditional and community leaders from the areas and all the relevant stakeholders, where they held a fruitful discussion on how to ensure sustainable peace in the area.”
The Police Spokesman said that part of the resolution of the meeting was to lodge a formal complaint to the National Boundary Commission.
According to him, another meeting between the Governors of Bauchi and Gombe State, council chairmen of the affected communities, traditional and community leaders from the area, will be held separately to discuss the way forward as part of efforts to ensure sustainable peace among the communities.
He said the commissioner of Police of the two states will deploy policemen in the area where the attackers are crossing to prevent the other communities from crossing over to cause any problems.
Wakil who said that some policemen has been deployed to the affected communities to restore peace, appealed for calm and solicited for cooperation from all stakeholders to maintain peace.