Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State has denied the allegations by the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi that there was genocide against Fulani herdsmen by some political leaders, especially in Taraba, claiming that these killings were causing anxiety.
The governor, who spoke through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Bala Dan Abu, advised Sanusi to emulate the leadership style of the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar.
While admitting that the Sultan had been preaching peace across the country, he called on the Kano emir to stop aggravating security situation in the country by his inflammatory comments capable of causing tension.
Ishaku added that “The truth of the matter is that there has never been genocide against Fulani in Taraba. What the emir is talking about was a communal clash between the Fulani and the Mambila in the Sardauna Local Government Area of the state in June last year.
“In that communal clash, both sides suffered casualties and the figure of deaths from both sides put together was nothing close to genocide.
“Before now, there have been reported cases of killings by herdsmen in Taraba and currently, we have IDPs in camps as a result of herdsmen invasion of communities in Lau and Wukari LGAs of the state.
“Sanusi has not said a word about these killings. So, for him to level such allegation against the governor is most unfortunate.
According to him, the Fulani elite in Mambilla might have given the emir wrong information about the crisis in Mambilla and called on all to support the governor’s peace initiative, aimed at promoting peace in the state.
The governor explained that after the crisis on the Mambilla, the Fulanis accused the chairman of the local government, Mr. John Yep, of taking side with his Mambilla kinsmen and requested the governor to remove him.
“As a peace loving governor, His Excellency asked him to step aside to give way for investigation and he has not being given any appointment anywhere. Just recently, the investigative panel submitted its report which did not indict the suspended chairman, yet the governor has not recalled him.
“Sanusi wields a lot of influence and he should be careful about things he said so as not to send wrong signals out there. There is no single element of truth in his allegations,” he said.