By Uhuru Samuel, Jalingo
The Kuteb Yatso of Nigeria (KYN) has sounded the alarm over alleged plans by sponsored mercenaries to launch coordinated attacks on Kuteb villages in Takum, Ussa and parts of Kurmi Local Government Areas of Taraba State.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday at the NUJ Press Centre in Jalingo, the President-General of KYN, Comrade Emmanuel Ukwen, disclosed that credible intelligence indicated that armed groups have set up camp at the abandoned Theophilus Danjuma Farm estate along the Manya–Takum road. The facility, deserted for over three decades, is reportedly being used as a base for attacks.
According to Ukwen, the bandits killed at least seven people and injured several others in separate attacks on the Manya–Takum axis within the past week. He alleged that the groups, equipped with sophisticated weapons and logistics, are plotting large-scale assaults aimed at displacing Kuteb communities and preventing them from participating in the ongoing voter registration exercise.
“The information available to us shows that unidentified armed groups are planning to launch massive attacks on villages and towns in Ussa, Takum, and Yangtu Development Areas in the coming days or weeks,” Ukwen warned.
He listed the likely targets to include communities in Takum LGA such as Mbiya, Tukwog, Muji I and II, Basang, Kpashimbe, Tati, and Sabon Gida Kuteb, among others; in Ussa LGA, Kwesati, Waenja, Tutuwa, Kpambo Puri, and Fikyu Nyim; as well as parts of Kurmi LGA including Changso, Zanaka, and Pomango. Farmers in Yangtu Development Area, he added, have also been suffering repeated crop destruction by the same armed groups.
The KYN president called on the Taraba State Government and security agencies to urgently intervene to avert what he described as a looming humanitarian crisis. He demanded the deployment of additional personnel to identified flashpoints, intensified surveillance, and closer community engagement to forestall further bloodshed and destruction.
“This is a coordinated attempt to destabilize our people during a politically sensitive period and the farming season. We urge immediate government action to secure lives and property,” Ukwen stressed.