No fewer than eight persons have been reported death in the violence that erupted in Wukari area of Taraba State, Sunday, barely 24 hours after the State Elections Petition Tribunal nullified the election of the state governor, Darius Ishaku.
The tribunal, sitting in Abuja, on Saturday quashed the election of Gov. Darius Ishaku of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and declared Sen. Aisha Alhassan of the All Progressives Congress, APC, winner of the poll.
Some touts were said to have taken advantage of the anti-ruling protests to unleash mayhem while some residents fled their homes to the bush for safety.
Gunshots also rent the air earlier in the day before the deployment of security agents to restore order.
Taraba, one of the northern states that has witnessed high amount of ethno-religious crisis in the last few years, with Wukari being a major spot for violence.
Reports say Sunday’s crisis started following celebrations and protests for and against the court ruling, delivered in favour of the All Progressives Congress candidate, Aisha Alhassan.
A resident of the town Kawu Musa, said the crisis broke out after some touts took advantage of the anti-ruling protests to unleash mayhem.
He said some residents fled their homes to the bush for safety, adding that gunshots rent the air earlier in the day before the deployment of security agents to restore order.
“They just started firing sporadically, chanting war songs, we have to flee,” Musa said.
It was, however not clear the extent of destruction or if there were casualties as at the time of this report.
The Taraba State Police Public Relations Officer, Joseph Kwaji, confirmed the incident, saying soldiers and a detachment of police officers from the state command and other neighbouring divisions were promptly deployed to the town.
He said law and order had been restored in the affected areas and said that figures of casualty had not been ascertained by the police, warning the people not to take the laws into their hands.
He said that the state Commissioner of Police, Shaba Alkali had moved to the area to ensure that peace was restored.
He warned that the command would come hard on any one bent on fomenting trouble in any part of the state over the verdict of the tribunal under any guise.
Tanimu Danlele, the former Vice Chairman of Wukari Local Government Council, told NAN that at least eight people lost their lives and more than 30 others were injured in the crisis.
He thanked security agents for ensuring quick return of normalcy to the area and urged them to be vigilant to forestall re-occurrence
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