Uhuru Samuel Adaji Jalingo
Following the continued controversies over the stool of Ukwe Takum in Takum local government area of Taraba State, the Kuteb Yatso of Nigeria (KYN) has accused the state governor Dr Agbu Kefas of perpetuating injustice against the Kuteb ethnic groups.
The National President of the KYN Emmanuel Ukwen who was represented by John Irash, disclosed this on Tuesday at a press conference in Jalingo, in reaction to the pronounced appointment of two Third Class Chiefs in Takum by the state government.
He stated that the decision of the state House of Assembly to go ahead and pass the Chieftaincy rotation Bill for Takum into law despite overwhelming opposition at the public hearing and the decision of the state governor to go ahead and bastardise the stool of Ukwe Takum is not only crass injustice but an invitation to anarchy.
“It is shocking, to say the least, for one to see to a crass, inept and mischievous misinformation been propelled around by the state government and her agents with the sole aim of misinforming innocent public and creating further room to perpetuate its preconceived injustice against the peace loving Kuteb people. We have registered our opposition against the ill-concieved idea of balkanising our agelong heritage that was established many centuries before it was gazetted in 1914 by the British colonial government with an uninterrupted reign by several Ukwe till date.
“More So, during the public hearing at the State House of Assembly, the majority of of those who made presentation unanimously rejected the mischievous Bill but the Governor deliberately influenced its passage and signed it into law, then turnaround to coerce it down our throats. This is, in all honesty, a bad law that should not see the light of day
” We unanimously boycotted the exercise because it is against our culture and tradition to exchange the Ukwe Takum stool for an alien Chief of Takum stool, created by Governor Agbu Kefas with a strange rotation policy.
“Unfortunately, the government is now the one spearheading injustice against its own people. It is completely against the constitution and laws that is targeted at an ethnic group to destroy their cultural and traditional heritage in their community.
“Furthermore, Ukwe Takum has been selected according to the tradition and custom of the Kuteb people with all the necessary rites observed and there wasn’t any form of disagreement between the ruling houses. This was done in line with the Taraba State 1997Order signed by the State Military Administrator Oyakhiee as recommended by various panels and committees reports on the Takum Chieftaincy issue.
“We therefore urge the government to, in the interest of peace, fairness and justice, to step in and initiate the process of presenting staff of office to the officially recognised and selected Ukwe and not to initiate a strange and alien selection process that has no historical or sociocultural background nor existence and ever before now as been shoved into the throats of the Kuteb people.
He maintained that the posture of the state government confirms it’s determination to use state resources to obliterate the entire Kuteb population in a brazen ethnic cleansing and called on the federal government to watch carefully as the state government would gladly truncate the drive for peace the federal government advocates.
Meanwhile, the State government through a press statement signed by the commissioner of Information Mrs. Zainab Usman and made available to newsmen on Monday, announced Chief Uhwe Bala Ephraim as 3rd-Class Chief (Tsohon Jukun Takum) and Barr. Sopiya Ahmadu Gboshi III as 3rd-Class Chief (Gar Chamba Takum)
The two appointments represent Chamba and Kpanzon while the Kutebs being the largest ethnic group in Takum insist on having their ancestral first class stool of Ukwe Takum.
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