The Aku Uka of Wukari and chairman of the Taraba
State Council of Chiefs, Dr Shekarau Masa Ibi (Kuvyo II), on Monday said
Nigerians had lost confidence in the military.
The monarch made the comment when he received
the Army Probe Panel investigating the allegations of military collusion with
armed bandits in the attacks on residents of Taraba and other parts of the
country.
Gen. Theophilus Danjuma had recently accused the
Armed Forces of colluding with bandits to kill Nigerians and urged the people
to defend themselves.
Aku Uka, who thanked the military leadership for
setting up the panel, said, “It is a known fact that the citizens of Nigeria
have lost confidence in the military, in spite of their track record of
successful peace missions in other parts of the world.
“I want to remind you members of the panel that
Nigerians who are crying for justice are expecting much from you, so also the
armed forces who are looking up to your report to help them to restore our
citizens confidence in the Nigeria military.
“As an umpire, Nigerians expect you to be just
and fair in your assignment, and only a fair, just and transparent report of
your panel can restore the lost image of the military.”
Presenting the position of the Wukari Traditional
Council before the panel, the Adviser to the Aku Uka on Media and Legal
Affairs, Danjuma Adamu, said the high expectations of the people of the area
after the deployment of soldiers for the Exercise Ayem Akpatuma were not met as
the attacks and killings continued.
Danjuma, who cited several cases of alleged
military collusion, noted that on several occasions the soldiers deployed in
the area refused to defend the farming communities despite pleas by the council
chairman and the traditional council, giving credence to the insinuations that
they were taking sides with the killer herdsmen.
He said that on October 19, 2015, Fulani militia
attacked Sondi in the Kente district and killed 30 people, adding that
residents of the village accused soldiers in the area of aiding the attackers.
“On 10th April, 2018, Gbeji was attacked and five
people were killed. On the same day Sontyo village was attacked and destroyed
by herdsmen who took over the village and their cows are grazing there as their
permanent abode.
“The following day 11th April, 2018, the militia
attacked Jandeikyula village killing over 25 people. The soldiers and policemen
attempted to confront them but the militia escaped without a single attacker
arrested.
“On the whole, 200 people have been killed from
April 2013 till date, 401 villages destroyed, thousands wounded or maimed and
farmlands destroyed,” he submitted.
While alleging that the attacks and killings were
meant to wipe out the indigenous occupants of the area to pave the way for a
full Fulani occupation, the Wukari traditional council appealed to the Federal
Government to pay a serious attention to the crisis.
The Chairman of the Wukari Local Government
Council, Daniel Adi, in his submission, also alleged the complicity of the
military in the killings in the area. He urged the panel to check with the
Police Area Command in Wukari for some of the case files showing military
personnel aiding the movements of the attackers.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Probe Panel, Maj.
Gen. Joseph Nimyel (retd.) sympathised with the Aku Uka over the loss of lives
and destruction of property as a result of the crisis in the area.
He informed the monarch that they were in the
state to investigate allegations of collusion levelled against the military by
Danjuma.
Nimyel said the panel would send its findings to
the Army Headquarters in Abuja, the Taraba State Government and the Federal
Government with a view to helping the authorities in their future dealings. LR News
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