Taraba Facts

The Benue State Government announced on Wednesday that it had commenced the evacuation of Benue State students at the Federal University, Wukari in Taraba. The evacuation followed the closure of the university after the alleged killing of two Benue students in the institution on July 30 by people suspected to be members of the Jukun militia. The  News Agency of Nigeria  reports that hundreds of people have been killed over the years in recurring communal clashes between ethnic Jukun and Tivs in the agricultural belt of Northern Nigeria. The bloody conflict has taken its toll on the two ethnic groups with many lives lost and property estimated at millions of naira destroyed. Speaking in a telephone interview with a  NAN  correspondent in Makurdi on Wednesday, the Benue Commissioner for Education, Prof. Dennis Ityavyar, said the evacuation of the students was due to the closure of the university. He said that relevant security operatives and the gover...

No  fewer than nine persons have been killed in Takum town, Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State in a fresh attack by Jukun youths yesterday, according  to DAILY  SUN Report,  Sylvanus Viashima The state police public relations officer, David Misal, who confirmed the development, said he could only confirm the death of two people in the incident. “One person was killed on a farm land that is under dispute this morning. Some youths in Takum attacked and killed someone, who allegedly is a relation to the people who are in dispute over the said parcel of land with the slain man, in what looks like a reprisal. “The land matter has been in court and two months ago, a relation of the person killed on the same land today Takum is the hometown of Governor Darius Ishaku. Multiple sources in Takum, however, said trouble started yesterday morning when a Jukun man was killed on his farm along Takum-Wukari Road and irate Jukun youths in Takum...

Four suspected kidnappers have been killed in a gunfight with the police in Bali Local Government Area (LGA) of Taraba State. The spokesman for the State Police Command, David Misal, confirmed this to Channels Television in a telephone interview on Monday. This comes less than a week after the Command constituted a Special Anti-Kidnapping Squad comprising operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and the Mobile Police (MOPOL). The operation which was launched in collaboration with the vigilantes followed a tip-off from locals of Kungana village in Bali LGA. READ ALSO :  Soldier Dies As Troops Kill 10 Insurgents In Baga Misal explained that the suspected kidnappers were killed in their camp located on a mountain top. He said, “The DPO of Bali Local Government Area received a tip-off that the kidnappers who have been operating within the area were hiding in the mountains. “He quickly mobilised the police and vigilante groups to battle them.” “On get...

Taraba State is to integrate the National Park Service (NPS) into its security architecture to protect lives and property. Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku dropped the hint when the Conservator of Park (CP), Gashaka-Gumti National Park, Mohammed Kabir, paid him a courtesy visit at Government House, Jalingo. He told his visitor that the integration plan had become imperative, adding that it would be well coordinated to police the park and its environs as well as foster synergy among the security agencies in the state. The governor added that motorcycles would be made available to ease mobility within the facility, noting that the communication needs of the park would also be prioritised. GUARDIAN 

The ongoing Tiv/Jukun crisis will likely cause food shortages in Taraba State. The conflict, which started three months ago, has affected thousands of farming communities in Wukari, Donga and some parts of Takum local government areas, Daily Trust findings revealed. ADVERTISEMENT Farms in the affected areas were abandoned and farmers fled to Wukari, Donga and Takum towns while others crossed to Benue State. It was further gathered that the affected areas produce 80 per cent of the Yam, groundnut, Maize and rice produce in southern Taraba. ADVERTISEMENT Daily Trust findings revealed that, within the last few weeks, many farmers from both sides in the conflict were killed on the farms or on their way to the farms, a situation that forced farmers to abandon their farms. The chairman, Wukari local government area, Mr Adi Daniel told Daily Trust that many farmers had been killed on the farms, adding that it was very dangerous to venture out to the farms now. “Our People are b...

Barely eight hours after a security meeting between Taraba and Benue state governments held in Makurdi, Gese village, a Tiv community in Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba was attacked and razed by suspected Jukun youths. This is even as one person was said to be missing between Tar-Orshi and New area on his way to Wukari. Mr. Nathaniel Gbanwuan, a resident of the community told our correspondent that the attackers invaded the village at about 2am on Sunday and burnt the entire village. Gbanwuan noted that no life was lost in the attack as the villagers had since fled the community located along Rafinkada -Donga road for fear of attack which subsequently happened. Caretaker Chairman of Wukari Local Government Council, Hon. Daniel Adi in a telephone interview with our correspondent said a Jukun man travelling on a motorcycle from Rafinkada to Wukari was reportedly missing on Sunday morning. Adi who confirmed the attack on Gese village, however said the attac...

Plans to ensure every household uses treated mosquito nets to prevent malaria in the nooks and crannies of Taraba State have begun to yield positive results. The Guardian observed this during the just-concluded house-to- house mobilisation exercise, carried out by the State Ministry of Health in collaboration with the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) and the Catholic Relief Services (CRC). The exercise, which began on June 29 and ended last Friday, was followed with a mop-up exercise to enable organisers capture all persons in the state. It was aimed at distributing free treated mosquito nets to every household, irrespective of the number of persons sleeping in such houses. The turnout was massive. The Demand Creation Officer of the National Malaria Elimination of the Federal Ministry of Health, Mrs. Hope Obokeh, charged media practitioners not to relent in creating awareness on the importance of using treated mosquito nets, which according to her, would g...

Last week,  200L computer science students of Taraba State University had Lectures outside their hall. Taraba Facts spoke to one of the students on phone and he Informed us that the hall is too small to accommodate the students, that why they decided to go outside their hall to receive lectures. On the 3rd of May, 2019, the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Taraba State University Chapter suspended its two months strike following an agreement reached between the union and the state government. The union had embarked on strike on April 3 to press home their demands including non-payment of earned academic allowances, lack of perimeter fencing, inadequate funding among others.

- Taraba Government to raise white paper recognizing the Judgment... Sani Abubakar Danladi has committed political suicide by presenting a questionable WAEC certificate to INEC and lying on oath in his form CF001 before the 2019 election about his age. The Taraba state government is planning to raise a GOVERNMENT WHITE PAPER recognising the judgement and thereafter Gazette/Publish same in the official Gazette of the state; and this shall imply that Sani Abubakar Danladi  shall not be qualified to contest for; nor hold any political office from the date of the Gazette to a period of ten years .  By virtue of the judgement, Sani Abubakar Danladi is  finished politically.  Sani now stands a chance to be  sent to prison  should the appropriate and relevant investigative and prosecutory institutions in Taraba state receive his documents in their table.  Lying on oath in INEC form CF001 and using a questionable WAEC certificate to obt...

The Petition of Sani Abubakar Danladi and APC against Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku of PDP pending before the Taraba state Governorship election Petition Tribunal sitting in Apo High Court, Abuja FCT is now  rendered incompetent and amounts to a mere academic exercise   before the law. The reason why the Petition is incompetent is because by virtue of the Federal High Court judgement that disqualified Alhaji Sani Abubakar Danladi from contesting the March 9th, 2019 Governorship election in Taraba state, Alhaji Sani Abubakar Danladi  was never a candidate of APC nor any other political party  in the said election; and since  “ONLY A CANDIDATE THAT CONTESTED AN ELECTION UNDER THE PLATFORM OF A POLITICAL PARTY HAS THE RIGHT UNDER THE NIGERIAN LAW TO FILE A ELECTION PETITION AGAINST ANOTHER CANDIDATE OR POLITICAL PARTY”  Sani Abubakar Danladi by reason of his disqualification by the Federal High Court, Jalingo is deemed by the law as having not ...

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA ) on Thursday advised people living along the banks of River Niger and River Benue in Adamawa and Taraba to relocate to avert flooding. NEMA’s Head of Operations in the two states, Mr Abbani Garki, gave the warning while distributing livelihood support items to the 2018 flood victims in Yola South Local Government Area of the state. Garki said the agency had received the 2019 rainfall data analysis from the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMET), which indicated that 30 states of the federation would experience flooding. According to him, NEMA, alongside its sister agencies in the states, are monitoring and working closely in case of emergency. “We are advising communities, especially those along the two major rivers in Benue and Niger, to be on alert because there is possibility of flooding this year as predicted by NiMET. “State governments should also advise their communities to make sure that all drainage channels ...

Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku showed the readiness of his administration to support the Northeast Development Commission (NEDC) and advised that they continue with the developmental initiatives of the Presidential Committee on the Northeast Initiatives (PCNI). Gov. Ishaku delivering his speech during the visit of some members of the NEDC at Government House Jalingo. The Governor stated this when he received members of the Commission at Government House Jalingo. He bemoaned the manner at which organizations and government agencies usually abandon development programs based on sentiments of varying degrees hinged on ideology and party differences despite their painstaking efforts towards development. Governor Ishaku stated that should the six governors in the north east own the Yola Electricity Development Company, there would be effective distribution of power across the zone. The governor expressed dissatisfaction over seeming sideline of the state government ...

Taraba State Governor, Arc. Darius Dickson Ishaku, on Wednesday July 3, 2019, signed into law a bill that prescribes death sentence for kidnapping and abduction offenders in the state. This was disclosed by the Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Media and Publicity, Mr. Bala Abu. The bill which was sponsored by Rt Hon Peter Abel Diah, speaker, Taraba State House of Assembly, and passed with overwhelming support by members of the assembly, is intended to help contain kidnapping which is today a major concern in Taraba. Under the new law, anybody found guilty of abduction or kidnapping in the state will pay the supreme price for it. The governor’s aide said that the law is a product of government’s concern about insecurity in the state, particularly, kidnapping for money which is rampant in the state and other parts of the country. “In the past two years, not less than 20 persons, some of them government officials had been kidnapped from their homes and on the r...

The Taraba House of Assembly on Tuesday amended the state Kidnapping and Abduction Prohibition Act 2010, to introduce death penalty and life imprisonment for offenders. Mr Charles Maijankai, Majority Leader and member representing Karim Lamido 1 constituency, moved the motion for the amendment of the Act which was seconded by Alhaji Bashir Mohammed, the Minority Leader of the House during plenary. The Speaker, Abel Diah said that the bill, upon its assent by Gov. Darius Ishaku would become Kidnapping and Abduction Prohibition Amendment Act 2019. Diah, who represents Mbamnga constituency, said that the bill would ensure protection of residents of the state against kidnapping. The speaker said that the new bill has amended section three, four, seven and eight of the 2010 Act. He stated that the bill stipulate that any person who kidnap or abduct a person or by other any means of instilling or tricking another person with intent to demand ransom or compel another pers...

Leaders of Tiv and Jukun tribes in Taraba state have commended president Muhamadu Buhari’s initiative  to raise a committee that will bring an end to the persistent crisis between the Tiv and Jukun  tribes in the state. Recall that president Buhari on Saturday through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu said the Federal government has begun consultations for an inclusive stakeholders’ committee that will thoroughly interrogate issues that fuel communal conflicts across the country with special focus on the Tiv /Jukun relationship in Benue and Taraba states. Taraba state chairman of Jukun Youths Association, Zando Hoku said President Buhari’s timely initervention to  set up the committee would combat the repeated communal clashes. He said the present communal clash between the Tiv and Jukuns has brought hardship to both tribes economically, socially, educationally and culturally. He said “we are peace loving people, bu...