The women of Jukun yesterday took to the streets of Donga in Donga Local Council of Taraba State to protest against the incessant killings of their spouses by suspected Tiv militias.
Dressed in black attire, the women marched to the palace of the traditional ruler of the emirate, Chief Stephen Bayonga.
They expressed dismay that he had not taken actions to stop the menace.
They also allegedly accused the security operatives of not being proactive in curbing the killings
Some of them stated that the protest was necessitated by the “ongoing killings of our men by the Tiv militias, which our king, government and security operatives seem unbothered about.”
Reeling out figures of their men and youths allegedly murdered in the past two weeks, they called on the Federal Government to urgently come to their aid by deploying additional security personnel to the area, The Guardian reports.
However, the President-General of Tiv Social Cultural Association, Chief Goodman Dahida, while reacting to the allegations, stated that “the Tiv are peace-loving people, we did not kill anybody as claimed by the women and we shall never indulge in such act.”
He noted that his leadership had mapped out plans to engage in the peace process “because our people are the one at the receiving end. Our people are being killed on a daily basis. We have been displaced.”
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, David Misal, said he was not aware of the protest in Donga.
“Rather than accusing the police, the people should be applauding us because the commissioner has deployed enough policemen to the areas,” he said.
