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Jukun-Tiv crisis: Military takes charge, arrest 3 with arms, charms ‎


•Dismantle all road blocks in Southern zone‎
•Reopens Gbeji-Kente- Wukari road
•Vows to crush trouble makers  ‎


The military operation code-named, Operation Whirl Stroke, OPWS, has brokered peace between the warring Tiv and Jukun people of Taraba and Benue States, warning youths in the area who are currently in possession of illegal weapons with the purpose of using same to commit arson to surrender them immediately or be made to face the full wrath of the law if caught.‎


The Force Commander of the OPWS, Major General Adeyemi Yekini, at a ‎peace meeting which held at DSK Hotel Kente, Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State on Monday, ‎explained that the crisis between the two tribes were in two dimensions, adding that it was a crisis between Jukun and Tiv in Benue and then between Jukun and Tiv in Taraba which had resulted to loss of lives and property in both states.

“At the end of the deliberations, both ethnic groups agreed to embrace peace and immediate reopening of the Gbeji-Kente- Wukari road which had remained closed since the beginning of the crisis which started in April 2019.
“Also, it was resolved that all illegal roadblocks within the axis should be dismantled, while all Tiv and Jukun residents who had fled their homes during the crises were asked to return home immediately.
“Stakeholders at the meeting also agreed that from now henceforth, both Benue and Taraba state governments must begin to give political appointments to Tiv or Jukun minorities in the respective states to unite the people the more”, Yekini said.‎
He recalled that, at the end of one of the kinetic operations his troops carried out in the area during the crisis, six assorted weapons were recovered from youths of both ethnic groups while eight youths were arrested and one was shot dead.
Meanwhile the personnel of the 93 Battalion of the Nigerian Army Ada Barracks Takum on Wednesday arrested three persons with a pistol and some ammunition near Rafinkada in Wukari Local Government Area of Taraba State.‎

Caretaker Chairman of Wukari LGA, Hon. Daniel Adi ‎said the youth were coming towards Rafinkada when men of the Nigerian Army Ada Barracks Takum ran into them and arrested three in possession of a pistol and some ammunition.

The Caretaker Chairman who said efforts were being intensified to bring peace between the Jukun and the Tiv in local government called on the people of Wukari to live in peace with one another.
“Just yesterday both Tiv and Jukun were in Kente market together for the first time since the beginning of the crisis two months ago,” he said.
In the meantime, two villages in Donga Local Government Area, Utsev, and Akaakase were said to have been attacked and houses burnt.

Residents said the attackers invaded the villages through Ayu-Tsokondi in Wukari Local Government and crossed into Donga at about 1:pm on Wednesday.‎

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