By Baba Yusuf
Abuja
Taraba state government has described as “baseless, unfounded and malicious” the allegation by a group, Taraba Elders, that the governor, Arch. Darius Ishaku, was fuelling the incessant communal crises in Wukari local government area of the state.
The governor, who was reacting to the allegation of the group yesterday in Abuja, explained that the Wukari crisis predated his administration and only inherited it on assumption of office on May 25 this year.
Senior Special Assistant to the governor on Media and Publicity, Mr. Sylvanus Giwa, said in statement that the so-called elders only existed in the inauguration of the author of the mischievous article, Mallam Sanny Sule Sale, whom he accused of fanning the embers religious division among the peace-loving people of Wukari for personal aggrandisement.
He said as a responsible government, it cannot shy away from maintaining peace and security as there cannot be any development in an acrimonious society.
He said the state government was working round the clock to ensure that peace was not only permanently restored to Wukari, but the entire state, adding that the government quest to develop the state will remain a mirage if we fail to maintain the peace.
Giwa also cited the governor’s recent visit to the Federal University, Wukari, during an award ceremony, where the governor challenged the people of the area to give him and he would give them development in return.
“My good people of Wukari, give me peace and I will give you development. Wukari is destined for greater heights but this will not be possible if the people cannot live peacefully together” he quoted the governor as saying.
Meanwhile, Wukari Progressive Forum (WPF) has chided those painting the town as a hot-bed of ethnic and religious intolerance to have a re-think as the inhabitants “are followers of different religions who had lived peacefully with one another until the return to democracy.”
Chairman and Secretary of the association, Mr. David Hikon, and Alhaji Mohammed Danjuma, in a press release, said the bad impression being created about the area to the outside world by “some outsiders who do not understand the complexities of the inhabitants needed to end.”
