Close up on Wukari’s bloodbath

Sitting on a wooden bench in front of his shop located along the Katsina Ala Road (which used to be one of the busiest streets of Wukari), Okey John, 46, a vehicles spare-parts dealer of Ibo extraction, was engrossed in deep thoughts. Not even approaching footsteps of this reporter could attract the attention of this […]

Sitting on a wooden bench in front of his shop located along the Katsina Ala Road (which used to be one of the busiest streets of Wukari), Okey John, 46, a vehicles spare-parts dealer of Ibo extraction, was engrossed in deep thoughts. Not even approaching footsteps of this reporter could attract the attention of this middle-aged man who cast a transfixed gaze into space, as if he were indulged in some silent incantations.  It was my ‘interruption’ with a “good day, sir” greeting that seemed to have gotten him relapsed to consciousness from his world of absentmindedness.
 Apparently mistaking me for a potential customer, John returned my greeting with an inquiry: “Welcome my brother; what do you want to buy?”  At this point I introduced myself to John as a reporter who had come to do coverage on the enduring Wukari crisis and with a grim on his sweat-soaked face he incredulously obliged me his experience.
John has been living in the ancient town of Wukari, headquarters of the Southern senatorial zone of Taraba State, for over three decades and for the 34 years that he lived in the headquarters of the Kwararafa kingdom, the man who first arrived Wukari in January 1980 had witnessed no fewer than 10 crises – some of which prompted him to run back to his native land in the East, with his family, for safety and to return after the dust had settled. Out of the crises he has witnessed, John said the current one that started there and has been lingering on for over the past months has defiled his imagination, thus throwing him into an occasional state of trance such as the one I met him in on arrival.
Recalling the crises in the area between 1990 and 1992, the trader said: “They used to be communal clashes between the Tiv and Jukun over land which were resolved amicably afterwards. But I don’t understand the real motive behind the current one, even though some say it is both political and religious. It beats my imagination as to why a brother would pick up arms against his fellow brother.”
While observing that the southern zone of the state, which is now agitating forpolitical power-shift, is the epicenter of the current crisis he alleged there were ‘selective’ killings in the crisis and that his Ibo kinsmen have suffered untold consequences, as their properties were demolished and business premises looted. John, who spoke with this reporter in Wukari over two weeks ago, when normalcy appeared to have returned to the city with the relaxation of a curfew to 6am-6pm, however, raised fears over the possibility of fresh attacks, saying: “There are a lot of weapons in Wukari and even though the situation is now calm people are still living in fear of the unknown and anything can still happen.”
His fears were justified last Sunday following renewed wave of hostilities in Wukari and Ibi towns, leading to several deaths and burning of houses and properties.
Although eye witness accounts indicated that no fewer than 10 lives were lost in the fresh attacks, the Taraba State Police command through its spokesman, Joseph Kwaji, confirmed the death of four persons, even as the state chapter of the Miyyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association debunked the claim by the police, saying over 50 lives were lost.
Mohammed Mafindi Danburam, Taraba State chairman of Miyyetti Allah Cattle Breeders, who spoke with this reporter on phone accused the Tiv and Jukun of conspiring to fuel the crisis in Taraba State.
There have been various accounts and theories bothering on the genesis of the current crisis in Taraba. While some see it as an extension of the farmers/herders crises that started from neighbouring states like Plateau, Nasarawa and Benue, others view it with the political lens of a conspiracy theory. Yet others see it as having ethnic and religious colourations.
But as debate over what the real motive behind the current crisis in Taraba continues, with blame game raging among the leadership of the warring parties in the state, especially as it relates to violation of the several peace agreements that were signed, the devastating impact of the disaster is leaving no oxygen for anyone to breathe. Social and economic activities have virtually come to a halt in Wukari as well as the other areas affected by the festering crisis, raising concerns over an impending economic crisis.
Investigations reveal that educational activities in the affected areas, especially Wukari which boasts of two universities, have also been adversely affected. Tolu Oladapo, a 200 level student of Economics at the Federal University of Technology Wukari, said academic activities were disrupted following the outbreak of the crisis earlier in May, forcing the school to shut down. “We had just resumed from our session in May this year when the crisis broke out in Wukari, consequently we received text messages from the school authority requesting us to stay away from school till further notice. Although we were later asked to resume following signs of normalcybut there is still uncertainty on campus”, said Oladapo, who disclosed that some students of the university living in Wukari also had their residential houses burnt. Similar stories were narrated by students of the Kwararafa University Wukari who gave heart rending accounts of how they were affected by the crisis.
A visit to some of the towns affected by the current crisis in Taraba revealed that they have been reduced to ghost areas, while surviving victims have continued to flee for safety. From Ibi, Donga, Takum and Dan Anacha in the southern part of the state the crisis has also taken its toll on Bali and Gassol LGA’s in the central zone where scores of displaced persons, especially the Tiv farmers, were seen moving away from their settlements in search of sanctuary. While some have moved to places as far as Abuja, others are now taking refuge at camps located at border towns between Taraba and Benue states.

Endless encounters with the fleeing refugees
At the RCM Primary School, Zaki Biam, a large-size clay pot was standing on three big stones under which there was burning coal. Stooping to poursome maize floor inside the pot was a 38-year-old woman, Mama Mbawuese, who wiped away streams of perspiration from her face as she battled with the cloud of smoke surging towards her from the fireplace. She was preparing morning meal for her family of 10 who fled Gishiri community in Sarkin Gudu village of Ibi Local Government Area of Taraba State following alleged attacks by suspected Fulani herdsmen. Smaller clay pots, wooden mortars and pestles that constitute part of the belongings she managed to escape with in the wake of the predawn attack lay about ubiquitously in front of one of the block of classrooms at the sprawling primary school located at Zaki-Biam, a border town between Benue and Taraba states, which now serves as sanctuary for mama Mbawuese’s family and a motley collection of other Tiv people fleeing from the lingering crisis in Taraba.
A peep inside the interior of the classroom where some of her malnourished children lay asleep on a ramshackle mattress revealed that it was as damp as the murky squalid marshes that surrounded the school compound. Mama Mbawuese and her fleeing family members are now taking refuge in this squalid school environment whose dingy classroom corners also provide sanctuaries for teeming multitude of malevolent mosquitoes and even rodents. No doubt, the woman and her fellow fleeing refugees complained that since their arrival at the school about three months ago they were constantly faced with the sights and sounds of their amphibious neighbours who breed and luxuriate in the stagnant waters around the school compound.
Samuel Kudu, the eldest child of Mama Mbawuese, recounted the events that led to their flight to Zaki- Biam. “It was on a Friday night around 9pm when Fulani herdsmen attacked our village.
At first we thought they were thieves but they turned out to be attackers wielding weapons of mass destruction who unleashed terror and paranoia on our village, killing people in their farms. They killed some goats and dumped on our farms and turned round to accuse us of killing their animals.”
“We left our homes empty without anything and they (herdsmen) have since taken over our homes and farms.  I personally abandoned over 6,000 tubers of yam on my farms. Some of our kinsmen have ran to Gbajimba (in Guma LGA of Benue State), while others have even gone as far as Abuja to seek refuge,” Kudu said.
Elsewhere, Iorhunde Tsuwa, 35, and his family of about six are gathered around a heap of groundnuts on the veranda in front of the classroom which now serves as their home. As they broke the husks of the peanuts Tsuwa, explained that it was among the few produce they had evacuated from their barn during an attack on them in Bornu ward of Bali Local Government in central Taraba. Like Mama Mbawuese, Tsuwa and his family, comprising two wives, alleged that they were chased away from their home by suspected Fulani herdsmen who launched an attack on their village. “They came in the morning, killing and chasing away people. I left my farm where I planted yam and maize and managed to run to this place with my family where we have been staying for the past three months,” he said.
For Aondakaa Kwaghbo, who fled from Daka village of Yerima ward in Gassol Local Government Area, they arrived the RCM Primary School Zaki Biam with his aged mother, Ahango, and five other family members. “The strange Fulani herdsmen who were very tall and wearing black turbans attacked our village on the fateful day at about 3pm and killed about three people. They were wielding AK-47 rifles. We managed to escape and ran to Mutum-Biu town before proceeding to this place,” he said.
While the fleeing Tiv farmers narrate their ordeals in the hands of Fulani herdsmen, the latter believe they were the worst affected in the current crisis in Taraba State. They also alleged that the Tiv community in Taraba had hired mercenaries from Benue State to fight in the crisis.
Mafindi Danburam, chairman of the State chapter of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, who made the allegation, said:  “We are the worst affected in the crisis because we have lost hundreds of our cattle and people from 2013 till date. The Tiv people have brought people from Benue State to fight us,” Mafindi said while also denying the allegation that the Fulani in Taraba had hired Boko Haram mercenaries from the north-east to join in the Taraba crisis.
Ardo Adamu Makko, a Fulani community leader in Donga Local Government Area, said the Tiv were fleeing out of fear following what he described as unprovoked attacks allegedly carried out on Fulani herdsmen in the area. “For quite some time there was relative peace in Donga following appeals by the Gara of Donga for peace.  But the Tiv went and killed three herdsmen between Wukari and Donga and their relatives went and recovered the corpses. That is why they (the Tiv) are now moving out of their homes for fear of reprisals,” Makko said, adding that there were some thieves who were disguising in Fulani attires to wreak havoc in the course of the crisis. Ardo Makko also alleged that some Tiv youth had attacked and hacked to death a middle-aged deaf Fulani man at a village called Nanu in Donga Local Government Area, adding that after the incident the Tiv started deserting their farms that were taken over by the cattle herders.
But James Nungwa, Chairman Tiv Cultural Association Taraba State, denied that Tiv community in Taraba had brought mercenaries from Benue State to participate in the crisis, adding that the farmers were fleeing their homes because they lacked protection by the authorities at the grassroots.
“The Tiv in Taraba are merely peasant farmers who do not have the financial wherewithal to hire mercenaries. The structure of government is so beautiful; unfortunately the Tiv in Taraba don’t have representation. We thought the council chairmen in the affected LGAs would offer us protection but they refused to come near us and we felt betrayed; hence we resorted to move out of our homes because we don’t have confidence in government at the grassroots,” Nungwa said, adding that although the state acting governor was trying assiduously to nip the crisis in the bud, his efforts were being frustrated at the grassroots.
The Jukun, on the other hand, believe they were simply caught in the crossfire of the Tiv/Fulani crisis that originated from the neighboring states and spilled into Taraba. This much was expressed by the paramount ruler of the Jukun, the Aku Uka His Royal Majesty Dr Shekarau Angyu Masa Ibi Kuvyon II.
The Aku Uka, who spoke with Sunday Trust at his palace in Wukari, said: “Let me make it clear that this current crisis did not start from here; we were not the people who brought the crisis, neither were we the cause of the crisis. The crisis started from elsewhere, came all along and we were roped in eventually.
“When we noticed the influx of Tiv from neighbouring Benue to Wukari for refuge, we contacted the government of Taraba State to come in and provide security so that the problem would not come into Taraba. When they started coming in, we as Jukun we don’t have any other place to run to so we tried to intervene between the belligerent parties so that the problem would not escalate. In the process, the Fulani accused the Jukun of joining the Tiv to fight them. So we were caught in-between,” he said. Speaker Taraba State House of Assembly, Josiah Sabo Kente, said the Jukun were involved in the current crisis following the attack on Nwukyon village of Wukari.  “While the attack was going on there was a sort of cry for help from the Jukun of Wukari who felt their kit and kin were being attacked in the village. Some of the Jukun from Wukari went there to give a helping hand and unfortunately two, three or four of them were killed in that attack and when their corpses were brought to Wukari that actually triggered the tension in Wukari leading to outbreak of violence in the town”, Kente said.
For Emmanuel Bwacha, the senator representing Taraba South, the current crisis which originated from Wukari was far from being a mere farmers/herders crisis. Bwacha, who spoke on the “content, scope and character” of the problem, blamed the state government of willfully allowing ‘imported insurgents’ into the state to perpetrate the crisis.
“Why I said this current crisis vary in scope, content and character is that other people call it farmers and herders but I call it imported insurgents that were carefully allowed to come into the state because of the carelessness of the leadership at the level of the state. I said carelessness because we had reported movement of people outside of Taraba in trailer loads to Taraba. Suspicions were that these movements were deliberately allowed to come in as parts of a grand scheme to either destabilize the Middle Belt as a whole or a plot to destabilize Taraba State,” he said.
There is also the school of thought that view the current crisis as having ethno-religious colouration with the political agenda of frustrating the agitation for power-shift to the southern zone of the state.
Those in this school of thought see the acting governor, Garba Umar, as covertly masterminding the crisis to prosecute his perceived ambition of succeeding ailing Governor Danbaba Suntai.
But the acting governor denied being behind the crisis in Taraba. Kefas Sule, Chief Press Secretary to the acting governor who absolved his boss of complicity said:  “The question to ask is who the mastermind is? Does it mean it was Alhaji Garba that went to Nasarawa or Benue State to mastermind the crisis?  The crisis did not originate from here; it spilled over from the other neighboring states.
The number one responsibility of government is to protect lives and property and if nothing was done in this regard from the very beginning by facilitating the deployment of security personnel to those spots or failing to send relief materials or even to visit the affected areas and hold stakeholders meetings, then you could say the man just sat back and was making political capital from the crisis.
“In fact there was a day he was to hold a meeting with the president and when crisis broke out he had to abandon that meeting and come back. So why would he do that if he is benefitting from the crisis? So anybody that is adducing politics in the crisis knows better,” said Kefas.
Speaker Kente also distanced himself from allegations that the crisis was being fuelled with the political intent of scuttling the agitation for power-shift to the southern zone in 2015. “I do not subscribe to that argument at all because I am a firm believer that power belongs to God and He gives power to whom He wants and at His own time. Let us look at the issue holistically instead of narrowing it down to the agitation for power-shift.
“People should be objective enough in analyzing the crisis. I don’t think someone who wants to rule over people would want to ignite or engineer the process of extermination of a particular group of people that he feels may not go with him; that is completely not true. I strongly dissociate myself from that position because I do know that what would be would be and what would not be would not be,” Kente said.
A visit to some of the villages deserted by the fleeing farmers, especially along the Wukari, Dan Anacha, Mutum Biu road that leads to Jalingo showed that while some of the vacated houses were occupied by herdsmen their cattle were seen freely grazing within and around the neighborhood and on farms. Confronted with the question on why the herdsmen took over the deserted villages after the farmers had fled, the chairman of the Miyyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association said the herders were grazing in the bush.
Although no police presence was noticed around the places visited, Taraba State Police Commissioner, Kalafite H. Adeyemi, said policemen were drafted to maintain patrol around the villages deserted by the farmers. In an interview with her in Jalingo, the CP who confirmed the death of two policemen in the crisis at Bali said: “Where we noticed that Fulani herdsmen had taken over the abandoned villages, we drafted our men there to maintain patrols. On arrests so far made in the crisis, Kalafite disclosed that a total of 76 suspects were arrested out of which 58 were charged to court, while 18 others were undergoing investigation.
Kefas Sule, the spokesman of the acting governor said his boss had directed the state police commissioner to liaise with other security agencies to ensure that cattle herders were not allowed to take their animals to the deserted compounds or farmland.
“During one of our visits to the crisis areas a journalist put this same question to His Excellency and his response was that he himself had observed the situation and therefore directed the state commissioner of police to liaise with the other security agencies and commander of the army to ensure that no cattle owner takes his animal to anybody’s farmland or compound. When the question was raised His Excellency frowned at the situation and promised to cross check to ensure that the trend stopped. If as we speak now that has not been done, I will relay it back to him and I am sure within the next hours or so action would be taken about it,” Sule said.   
As peace continues to elude Taraba State which prides itself as ‘Nature’s Gift to the Nation’ the Taraba Peace Initiative, a body comprising stakeholders from both Christian and Muslim faiths whose secretariat was commissioned in Jalingo by acting governor Umar insists that it is making a headway in the peace-building process. Bishop Charles Yohana, chairman of the Taraba Peace Initiative, said they have been working hard to bring the festering crisis to a halt.
“We have a special committee that is saddled with the responsibility of monitoring the implementation of peace agreements. It is comprised of representatives from Fulani, Tiv, Jukun, the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) as well as that of the Muslim Council of Nigeria, and the Special Advisers on Security, Christian and Islamic religions,” he said.
But the with last Sunday’s renewed attack in Wukari whose death toll has continued to rise by the day, the big questions on the lips of everyone are: why have the parties chosen to willfully violate the peace agreements with impunity? Why has it been difficult to enforce the implementation of all the cease fire agreements that have been entered into since the current crisis erupted in the state?