Taraba Attack: four dead, 27 injured, pator cries out to Govt.

Four persons were killed yesterday and 27 injured, in an attack on Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State, the President of the Christian Reformed Church, Nigeria (CRC-N), Rev. Caleb Ahima, has said.

He made the disclosure in a letter to the National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria on Sunday about the carnage and genocide by Hausa-Fulani Islamic insurgents in the area since February, adding that many of the huge army of insurgents that attacked Sondi were in army uniform.

“The villages of Gindin Waya and Sondi were attacked in the morning of the Day of the Lord on which Christians gather to worship the Lord. This is the third time that the Muslims have attacked Christians on Sunday. The attack of today led to the death of four (4) persons in Gindin Waya, and twenty-seven (27) persons in Sondi. Among the dead are the pastor of the Sondi Church and his only male child.”

Stressing that many of the attackers were in army uniform, he queried, “What is happening in Nigeria?”

Reverend Ahima said other reports reaching the headquarters of the CRC-N Church in Takum, southern Taraba State, said that another pastor, Nuhu Useni, was killed by the Hausa-Fulani as he went to see his farm, and his body would be buried in Wukari on Monday.

He said the Chairman of the Christian Association of Wukari confirmed all of this information on Sunday evening, and stated that the attacks and destruction of human lives and properties seemed to be because information to Nigerian security outfits are being ignored.

“The State government with whom lies the onus to protect the lives and properties of the citizens as provided for in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, seems to have interest in these killings and displacement of people, with attending sufferings by women and children especially,” he regretted.

Reverend Ahima, who said he was writing in pain, appealed desperately to the national CAN President, Pastor Ayodele Oritsejafor, for the Federal Government to wade in to the bloodshed in southern Taraba.

“The Hausa-Fulani north seems determined to wipe southern Taraba off the map of this country,” he cried. “What is happening? How come that one local government area has been attacked seven times now and it seems as if the country has no good security intelligence gathering network, or that security reports are not being used?