The Governor of Taraba State, Darius Ishaku, has accused the armed forces of failing in its duty to protect the people against attacks.
Ishaku said this on Thursday while addressing reporters at the National Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), after the opening ceremony of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.
The governor therefore called on the Federal Government to rescue the state from the onslaught of herdsmen militias, saying the state has been under attack in the past weeks.
Ishaku said, “In the southern part of Taraba, the military has been withdrawn, but that is not only the case. We are still being harassed by the herdsmen. The military has taken over the job of the Police and “bombarding” people’s houses at 2 am, arresting youths and locking them up. Two of these youths are missing and we understand that they are with the military and being transferred to the Abuja military headquarters. I asked for the reason. Nobody has confronted me with the reason. All I was told was that they committed a crime which nobody has told me about as the Chief Executive Officer of the state.”
The governor disclosed that the military also demanded that Takum Council Chairman, Mr Shiba Tikari, reports to its office on Friday (today).
“I don’t know what is happening. The armed forces are not protecting the people against the killer herdsmen but are now going around arresting the youths in the town. This is what led to the demonstration of the women last week. Now the situation is getting really bad.
“I am now calling on the federal government to order the military to bring back those boys that were arrested and allow the police to do their job if indeed, they are criminals,’’ Ishaku said.