Killings going on in our communities – Kutebs raise alarm in Taraba

The Kuteb ethnic group, spread across Ussa and Takum local government councils and in Yangtu Special Development Area of Taraba State, has denied reports making the rounds that normalcy has been restored to their areas.

The ethnic group, under the umbrella of Kuteb Yatso Nigeria (KYN), alleged on Friday that efforts put in place by the authorities to frustrate bandits launching attacks on their communities have yielded no positive results.

In a statement made available to journalists in Jalingo, the state capital, KYN frowned at the state government’s position on the killings ravaging the communities.

The group stated: “The report that normalcy has returned to our land is either an intentional statement to trivialise the magnitude of the problem or a statement made in error arising from underreporting of the happenings in Takum and Ussa.”

The statement signed by KYN chairman, Ure Caleb, further said: “It is imperative to note that normalcy cannot be said to have returned to the area just because the bandits retreated to their camps after hitting their targets.

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“Day in, day out, terrorists move closer to Takum and Lissam towns, the headquarters of Takum and Ussa local government councils, and Yangtu Special Development Area, capturing and occupying more and more villages where they have killed villagers and displaced the rest [of the population] into harsh environmental conditions.”

YKN added: “They attack our communities in a highly sophisticated manner with such a number of fighters estimated to be in hundreds, usually all armed with high-calibre, high-velocity weapons of military capacity.

“There are hundreds of well-armed bandits surrounding Kuteb villages in Takum, Ussa, and Yangtu Special Development Area, killing on a daily basis, and there is more concentration of bandits per land mass in Takum and Ussa than in Zamfara, Plateau, and Katsina States.”

The group wondered why the state government has continued to describe the attacks as a farmers-herders crisis.

They claimed the killings is a calculated and well-organised crime against the state by a group bent on dislodging and destroying an entire ethnic group.