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Mambilla crisis: Stakeholders blame Taraba police commissioner for fueling crisis
Stakeholders in Sardauna local government area of Taraba on Saturday blamed the action of the state commissioner of police, Mr. Yakubu Babas for the crisis on the Mambilla plateau.
At a press conference in Jalingo, leader of the group Mohammed Tepsi faulted the commissioner of police for ordering the arrest of two mambilla leaders in Nguroje at the instance of a Fulani man over a matter that is before a judicial commission of inquiry.
The stakeholders explained that following the tension that greeted the arrest which was effected around 5am, the council chairman Hon. John Yep visited the area to calm the situation only to be attacked by Fulani militia and narrowly escaped death.
“The Fulanis then proceeded on a killing spree of Mambilla and Kaka people in Mayo Sina, Lijire and Damu villages which further sparked unrest in the area.
“We condemn the above action and call on the security agencies to immediately end the selective and arbitrary arrests and protection of some individuals and particular groups in the ongoing crisis.
“The action of the Fulanis and the masterminds of the arrest and the gunfire incident at Nguroje were deliberate efforts to frustrate the judicial commission’s work already in process,” Tepsi said.
But the state commissioner of police, who spoke through the police public relations officer, ASP. David Missal said his men carried out the arrest to restore law and order, adding that there is no time under the constitution restraining the police to carry out arrest.
According to him, the police came in when two Mambilla boys went and set the house of a Fulani man ablaze in protest over the detention of their father over a civil case which the court remanded the man in prison custody in Gembu and appeal to the stakeholders to contribute in restoring peace on the plateau.
The stakeholders who said the crisis was being exaggerated, painting a picture that only the Fulani were victims, faulted the figure that over 300 Fulani communities were razed, insisting that the entire plateau has only 43 village areas, 40 of which are the Mambilla and Kaka communities.
While calling on the people of Mambilla to be patient and embrace peace, the stakeholders urged the government to expand the scope of the judicial commission to ascertain the remote and immediate causes of the crisis and recommend appreciate punishment for those found wanting in the crisis.
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