Tiv youths ask Taraba Assembly to impeach Ishaku over Tiv/Junkun conflict

For allegedly describing the Tiv people in Taraba State as ungrateful, the Tiv Youth Organisation has called on the Taraba State House of Assembly to immediately commence an impeachment process against the state governor, Darius Ishaku.

The group made the call in a statement by its President General, Timothy Hembaor, adding that the call was as a result of what the group described as the “unguarded, inciting and unpatriotic statements” allegedly made by the governor during the security meeting between Benue and Taraba states.

The meeting, held in Abuja on Wednesday last week, was chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.

According to reports, Ishaku had opposed the suggestion by the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, that the Federal Government should set up a commission of inquiry to unravel the cause of the crisis and proffer lasting solutions.

Ishaku was also alleged to have described the Tiv people in Taraba State as ungrateful despite all he had done for them.

Hembaor said: “Ishaku, who was shockingly and visibly aggressive, spoke like a Jukun governor and not a Taraba governor. He clearly took sides with his tribesmen and described the constitution, which he took an oath to defend, as defective because, according to him, it has deprived his people the right to uphold their cultural beliefs and ancient traditional practices.

“The Tiv Youths Organisation wonders why Ishaku, whose office is a creation of the constitution, would make such unpatriotic comments.

“The governor has, by his outing in Abuja, shown he is parochial in thought, lacks the capacity to lead a heterogeneous society and harbours deep hatred for other ethnic groups in his state.

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“He is, therefore, unfit to occupy the office of the governor of the state.”

According to Hembaor, Ishaku’s accusation of the Tiv people during the Abuja meeting was another ploy to confer false guilt on the Tiv in order to give his Jukun kinsmen the authority to further maim and kill.

“Another pointer to the fact that Ishaku is unfit to remain as Taraba State governor is his disclosure at the Abuja meeting that he usually tells his wife to ‘shut up’ anytime she attempts to talk to him over the wanton attacks on and killing of the Tiv people.

“We equally invite other Nigerians to note the grand conspiracy by the Jukun elite to wipe out the Tiv race in Taraba State.

“It should also be noted that the Tiv in Taraba are indigenes of the state and any attempt to force them out of the state will be against the laws of this country”, Hembaor said.

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