IGP deploys anti-riot policemen to curb attacks on Taraba villages

Worried about the recurring crisis in some villages in Gashaka Local Council of Taraba State, the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, has ordered the immediate deployment of more anti-riot policemen to the state.

The state Commissioner of Police, Shaba Alkali, who made this known yesterday while briefing journalists on the crisis, which has led to killings and destruction of property, said the unit of police deployed to the state would align with the ones on ground to restore normalcy in the area.

The commissioner, who also paraded one of the suspected sponsors of the crisis, Ardo Ayuba Illiyasu, said the command has mapped out strategies to arrest perpetrators of the illegality going on in the community.

The crisis, which has presently forced the people to seek refuge in nearby Cameroon Republic, according to the commissioner, “was caused by a group of people numbering about 20 suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.”

According to him, the marauders attacked Dori and Mesuma villages via Garbabi ward forcing the villagers to flee to Mayo-Selbe and Sabon-Gida villages for safety.”

Unconfirmed report said about 44 people lost their lives during the crisis. But the commissioner refuted this, saying the report on casualties made available to him showed that 15 persons were killed in the attack.

He said apart from the IGP’s approval of mobile policemen to Gashak, plane clothes officers have also been drafted to nearby local councils to prevent perpetrators of the attacks from escaping.