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For a lasting peace between the Jukun and Tiv ethnic nationalities, the Federal Government has been urged to immediately implement the “1922/1923 boundary demarcation agreement between Taraba and Benue states.”
The Jukun under the auspices of Abiu Bauka noted that the boundary, which “has been drawn already but yet to be implemented (demarcated), is the major issue creating conflicts between the citizens of Taraba and Benue states residing in these border areas.”
The group, in a statement yesterday in Jalingo by its chairman, Ishaku Adda, maintained that the immediate cause of the “current crisis was never between two persons as purportedly claimed by the Tiv youths in Taraba, rather it was the activities of the Tiv gang crossing over from Benue State.”
However, the leadership of the Tiv nation is of the opinion that incorporating them into the Wukari Traditional Council would permanently put to rest the killings amid the heavy deployment of security operatives in the affected communities.
Faulting the decision to recall the member representing Wukari I in the state House of Assembly, Pius Sabo, the Jukun people pleaded with their Tiv neighbours to, instead, joined the call for the central government to breathe life into the said demarcation pact to check the incessant bloody clashes between them once and for all.
The Taraba indigenes viewed the proposed recall as “inimical to the peace building and conflict management initiatives of the two state governments.”
The lawmaker, according to them, had incurred the wrath of the Benue locals following a remark credited to him on the crisis.
But Adda noted that the legislator’s primary responsibility “is to ensure the protection of lives and property of his constituents, Taraba and Nigeria as a whole.”
He therefore sued for peace and concrete action to restore normalcy in Wukari councils and the state at large.
