BEVERLY HILLS, June 22, (THEWILL) – Communities in Sardauna local Government area of Taraba state have urged the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo to declare a state of emergency in Taraba state, stating that without such measure, the “protection of our remaining people” cannot be guaranteed.

It was recently in the news that over 100 people were killed, with more than 15,000 cattle rustled in clashes that happened in the North-East state, which had in the past witnessed ethnic and religious crises.

Elders in the Fulani-dominated communities alleged that a group called ‘Mun Nor Ambassadors of Peace’ was mobilised by the chairman of the local government, John Yep, to attack them over allegations that people from his ethnic group were being “attacked by the Fulani”.

They maintained in a statement that “Nothing less than a judicial commission of inquiry ought to be instituted by the federal government and the United Nations due to the magnitude of these senseless killings.

“On the 16th of June, 2017 security personnel moved in the early hours and arrested some persons in Nguroje during which some suspected ringleaders of a group that has been fomenting trouble in the area got into the net of the security.

“On getting information about the development, the chairman of the local government, Mr. John Yep immediately led some Mambilla Youths to storm Nguroje alleging that the arrests was instigated by the Fulani. This led to a total siege on Nguroje and its environs.

“He ran across some villages mobilising his kinsmen under their militia group called ‘Mun Nor Ambassadors of Peace’ being the political attack dogs of a prominent politician from the area.

“Through this process, the council chairman was able to sell a dummy to his tribesmen across the entire local government painting a wrong and malicious picture that his kinsmen, the Mambilla ethnic group, was being attacked by the Fulanis.

“In fact, he made a personal radio message through the Taraba State Broadcasting Service (TSBS) Gembu Booster Station calling on his kinsmen to execute the genocide on the station’s transmissions of Saturday evening and Sunday morning respectively.

“What followed thereafter was a coordinated and simultaneous attack on over 300 Fulani communities.

“It has become necessary to call on the Acting President to as a matter of urgent national security evoke the relevant sections of the constitution and also do the needful by declaring emergency rule to allow for full-fledged emergency services and the protection of our remaining people.”