The Taraba State Governor, Mr Darius Ishaku, on Wednesday, April 13, 2016, said that he would punish those responsible for an attack in the state to justice.
He also urged residents, with useful information on the perpetrators of the recent killings to come forward.
Through his Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Sylvanus Giwa, the governor advised residents to “report any suspicious character” to the authorities.
The governor also confirmed the deployment of police officers to the troubled area, adding that “the whole place is now calm. “One of the suspects was paraded by the State’s Police Commissioner”, adding that it was in the house of the paraded suspect that the plan to execute the attack was hatched.
He also noted that the “Place has been cordoned off and serious security checks are going on in those villages.”
The governor, however, disagreed with the police authorities who reported that 15 people were killed, maintaining that “the information we got was about 44 people.
“You cannot count the number of the corpses that were burnt unless you go there and see the visuals”, he added.
The Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, on Tuesday, dispatched a detachment of Police officers to central Taraba State, where cattle rustlers allegedly killed 15 people.
Speaking to journalists at the Police command’s headquarters in Jalingo, the Commissioner of Police, Shaba Alkali, said that the herdsmen launched coordinated attacks on the affected communities.
He explained that they burnt some thatch houses forcing the villagers to flee into the villages of Mayo-Selbe and Sabon Gida for safety.
Alkali called on residents in the state to report suspicious activities in their communities to security operatives.