- KYN expresses concern over federal government’s inaction on ongoing killings in Taraba state, demands military intervention.
- The group calls for disarmament of bandits, expulsion from affected villages, and return of affected people to ancestral homes.
On Friday, the Kuteb Yatso of Nigeria (KYN) group expressed concern about the federal government’s inaction in addressing ongoing killings in Taraba state‘s Takum, Ussa, and Yantu Special Development Areas.
The association’s Public Relations Officer (PRO), Mr Ure Caleb, issued a press release lamenting that the Kuteb ethnic group in Taraba has been subjected to continuous attacks and killings by suspected Fulani herdsmen since 2021, with no significant intervention from the federal government.
The group urged President Bola Tinubu to launch a military intervention immediately and decisively, as seen in the Mangu area of Plateau State.
They demanded that the bandits be completely disarmed, that they be evicted from the deserted villages of Takum, Ussa, and Yangtu Special Development Area, and that the affected people be resettled in their ancestral homes.
The group also criticised the government’s portrayal of the area’s insecurity as a farmers/herders crisis.
They claimed that the killings were part of a well-planned strategy aimed specifically at the state’s Kuteb ethnic group.
We are disheartened by the federal government’s failure to address the persistent and ongoing killings in Taraba state’s Takum, Ussa, and Yantu Special Development Areas.
Since the start of this tragic trend in 2021, the federal government has done nothing to intervene in a situation that has claimed the lives of over 3,000 innocent Kutebs and destroyed over 1,000 homes.
We appeal to President Bola Tinubu to take resolute military action, as exemplified in the Mangu area of Plateau State, in order to disarm the bandits, expel them from the deserted villages in Takum, Ussa, and Yangtu Special Development Area, and facilitate the return of the affected people to their ancestral homes.
We wish to make it clear to all Nigerians and the government that the ongoing killings in the Takum, Ussa, and Yantu Special Development Area of Taraba state are not simply a farmers/herders crisis.
Instead, they represent a deliberate and targeted effort to eliminate the Kuteb ethnic group.
We regret to point out that despite the submission of a comprehensive report to the Executive Governor of Taraba State, Dr Agbu Kefas, by the Peace Committee, and the governor’s efforts to address the insecurity in the area, the bandits have resorted to new tactics in their operations.
They now move alongside herds of cows, which destroy crops in farms as they attack communities. They have even begun guerrilla warfare tactics, attacking and killing farmers in their fields.
We want to bring to the attention of government authorities and security agencies that hundreds of well-armed bandits are encircling Kuteb villages in the Takum, Ussa, and Yangtu Special Development Area, causing daily fatalities.
In just the past five days, 13 innocent Kuteb farmers were attacked and killed by bandit herdsmen. These bandits continue to occupy more land without encountering any security challenges.
We wish to unequivocally state that there is no peace in the Takum, Ussa, and Yantu Special Development Area of Taraba, particularly within the Kuteb-speaking regions, the group lamented.