Police disagrees with lawmaker, says no lives lost in Bauchi/Gombe communities’ clash

The Bauchi State Police Command has debunked the claim by a member of the State House of Assembly, Gazali Wunti, that an undisclosed number of people were killed in a border clash between the Gungura community in the Ganjuwa Local Government Area of the state and the Buri-Buri community of the Dukku Local Government of Gombe State.

According to reports, Wunti, who represents Ganjuwa East Constituency had said people from Dukku LGA of Gombe attacked a village called Bara in the Gungura ward.

The lawmaker while speaking under matters of urgent public importance on the floor of the House on Wednesday, said the incident happened at about 3:00 am on Tuesday, noting that the incident had been recurring for some time but efforts to settle the disputes have failed.

The Lawmaker said, “So many committees were formed in the past to resolve the border disputes but all efforts ended in futility.

“They have been attacking the people of the area and destroying their properties and now it even includes loss of lives.”

However, the Police Public Relations Officer in Bauchi, Ahmed Wakil, who confirmed the incident disagreed with the lawmaker, saying no life was lost in the incident.

Briefing journalists on Thursday, Wakil said, “It is not true that lives were lost in the crisis that involved the communities. The truth of the matter is that some communities from Gombe State cross the river, invaded some farms of Bauchi communities in Ganjuwa Local Government areas.

“The attackers started shooting sporadically in the air, they destroyed the farms and left. They did not kill anybody from the report received by the command.

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“The District head of one of the affected communities informed the police who visited the area and restored law and order.

“After the incident, the commissioner of police of Bauchi and Gombe State summoned a meeting between the police commands, Special advisers on security who represented the State Governors, Commissioner of youth sports, local governments chairmen traditional and community leaders from the areas and all the relevant stakeholders, where they held a fruitful discussion on how to ensure sustainable peace in the area.”

According to the police spokesman, part of the resolution of the meeting was to lodge a formal complaint to the National Boundary Commission.

He noted that another meeting between the Governors of Bauchi and Gombe State, council chairmen of the affected communities, traditional and community leaders from the area, will be held separately to discuss the way forward as part of efforts to ensure sustainable peace among the communities.

Also, he said the commissioner of Police of the two states will deploy policemen in the area where the attackers are crossing to prevent the other communities from crossing over to cause any problems.

Wakil who said that some policemen had been deployed to the affected communities to restore peace appealed for calm and solicited cooperation from all stakeholders to maintain peace.

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