Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State has raised the alarm that cattle rustlers have invaded some communities in the state from neighbouring Cameroon.
The governor, who raised the alarm Thursday in Jalingo, through the Commissioner of Information and Reorientation, Lois Emmanuel, while reacting to the allegations that the ongoing attacks in Bali and Gassol councils are inter and intra ethnic clashes, said, “government findings indicate that the problem is a case of cattle rustlers.”
Adding that “further information available to government indicate that cattle rustlers from neighboring Cameroon have invaded several communities in the areas and are threatening the lives and properties especially cattle belonging to the indigenous inhabitants.”
Emmanuel said the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, have not been spared as the invaders kill, maim and rape women. He wondered why some persons have blamed ethnic crisis, saying those behind it have tried various wicked tricks to label the crisis as targeted against a particular ethnic group to cause problems.
He said vigilantes have been employed to frustrate the foreign invaders.
According to him, “it is for this reason that the involvement of vigilantes in containing the activities of the criminals is under the strict surveillance of security agencies.”
The vigilante, as made known by him, will never be allowed to operate alone in order to prevent them from taking the laws into their hands.