Igbo indigenes living in Taraba State have appealed to the Igbo apex organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo and South East governors to save them from alleged Hausa-Fulani attacks.
They also called on the duo to urge the Taraba State Governor, Dairus Ishiaku, to ensure the security of their life and property in the state.
The people, through one of their leaders, Eze Igbo Dan-Anicha in Gassol Local Government Area, Chief Ozor Joseph Ezeh, had addressed Ohaneze on their ordeal in Taraba State, alleging periodic attacks on them by the Fulani.
They said all the attacks on them have been unprovoked and targeted at looting of their property and, in most cases, burning down their shops, in the presence of security operatives, without any caution or arrest. They also accused the state government of allegedly feeling unconcerned about their plight.
Ezeh said: “On Sunday, June 3, 2018, the Fulani went to Dinya community and attacked the people there, who are Tivs, but, during a gun battle that ensured, the Tivs had upper hands and they retreated. On Monday, they entered another community, Dan-Anicha and regrouped with the Hausa there and started rioting around 6:00a.m. till about 5:00p.m. when the situation became uncontrollable. At this point, they began to break into shops owned by Igbo indigenes and were carting away their goods.
“What surprised everyone was that the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) people came fully armed, the mobile and conventional police came there fully armed, and the army also came fully armed, but, they did not make any attempt to stop the people from looting the property of the Igbo. They just parked themselves at one side and were watching the attackers breaking into the shops and looting our people’s properties without making any arrest. The worse is that these people carried the properties they were looting and crossed before the security operatives who were just there as if they came to give them coverage to carry out the looting operation.
“All the shops inside Dan-Anicha park belonging to Igbo indigenes were looted and majority of the shops burnt. Along Bornu Kurukuru road, all the shops belonging to Igbo indigenes were looted and burnt, and the security operatives were watching them do all that without taking any action.
“The attack on Ndigbo started by 6:00a.m. on Monday and ended 6:00a.m. on Tuesday without any interruption by the security operatives. This is not the first time this kind of thing is happening. On October 13, 2001, they carried out similar attack on Igbo, and on November 20, 2017, the same Fulani people had problem with Tiv people and they (Fulani and Hausa) pounced on the shops of Igbo people and looted them without any interruption by the security operatives. On that day, they attacked me physically, gave me machete cuts and turned my house upside-down and burnt down all my shops and ruined my business.
