Don’t abandon us, Taraba IDPs beg government

The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Taraba Tuesday called on the state and federal government not to abandon them, but treat them as Nigerians.

Camp leader in Bali, Mr. Mike Tyobee made the appeal when he received a delegation of religious leaders who visited the camps in Bali to prayed and share with them.

Tyobee told the team that for over a year, no assistance came from either state or federal Government, adding that hunger, lack of water, malaria and typhoid fever among others were the major challenges confronting the IDPs.

The camp leader appealed to the state and federal governments to come to their aid by providing them with basic necessities of life, saying those who managed to return were still been attacked and killed by the herdsmen and called on government to ensure security of lives and property.

He lamented that the task force put in place by Governor Darius Ishaku to ensure peaceful return of IDPs to their places was not doing their work, hence the return of killings of returnees.

Mrs. Esther Nachigh who also spoke lamented that their children were not been properly fed and have been out of school for nearly two years and appealed to authorities to come to their aid.

“Life has been terrible for us. See the condition of our children, most of them are without clothes, we can’t even feed them. Our people are being killed and we can’t even recover their corpses for burial.

“We are being killed and no one is talking about it. We are Nigerians not foreigners and if we are being killed and like animals and government is keeping quiet so we have no protection. Let them killed all of us,” she lamented.

Earlier Rev. Fr. Simon Akuraga the Cathedral Administrator of the Catholic Diocese of Jalingo who spoke on behalf of the clergymen assured the IDPs that God would not abandon them even if men did.

He urged them to be security conscious and avoid going deep into the hinterlands to farm, pending when the security of the area will improve.

It could be recalled that crisis between herdsmen and farmers in Taraba in 2014 and 2015 left many dead and thousands displaced many of whom are now taking refuge in Taraba and neighbouring Benue state.

There are over 4000 IDPs in Taraba with Bali having the largest share of over 2,400 IDPs been camped at St. Paul Catholic Church, Legislative quarters, NKST Church and Tiv traditional council hall, all in Bali town.