The violence broke out as a funeral procession held by Christians for a traditional leader passed through a Muslim area of the town on Friday.

A 24-hour curfew has been imposed on the town by the police.

Tensions have been high in Wukari since February, when a row over a football dispute set off sectarian rioting.

As the mourners passed through a Muslim area of the town, they allegedly chanted slogans which angered the residents there, according to the Agence France Presse.

An aid worker told the AFP that 20 bodies had been collected so far.

“We are still going round the town in search of more bodies,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Taraba State Police Public Relations Officer, Joseph Kwaji, said the situation was now under control and police were “awaiting a comprehensive report,” adding that another 30 people had been seriously injured.

Reports traced the root of the crisis in the town between the Jukun ethnic group and the Hausa/Fulani group to the tussle over who the original inhabitants of the town are, and ownership of land.

The violence came a day after a panel was set up to investigate clashes in February in which several people died.

That violence was sparked by a row over which ethnic group was entitled to play on a football pitch in the town

-Punch

Authorities have slapped a round-the-clock curfew on the town of Wukari, located in Taraba state, following Saturday’s rioting, which was said to have started after a disagreement over ownership of a football pitch.

“The government has placed a 24-hour curfew on Wukari following security advice from relevant security agencies with a view to bringing normalcy in the town which has been enmeshed in violence,” Taraba information commissioner Emmanuel Bello said.

Violence erupted when Muslim and Christian football teams argued over which team had the right to a football pitch, Taraba state police spokesman Amos Olaoye said.

“While the two sides were arguing, a local hunter returning from the bush was passing and the two sides made for his gun, which resulted in a struggle. The gun went off, killing one person, and fighting broke off between the two sides.”

“Several buildings were burnt in the violence including places of worship but it is too early to give a figure because our focus now is on restoring normalcy as well as law and order,” Olaoye said.

Wukari lies in Nigeria’s middle belt region dividing the mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south of Africa’s most populous nation. The region is regularly hit by outbreaks of violence between Christian and Muslim ethnic groups.

Via Vanguard

No fewer than five people were killed and about 300 houses set ablaze yesterday in early morning religious crisis that engulfed Wukari, headquarters of Wukari Local Government in Taraba State. A House of Assembly member representing Wukari II State Constituency in Taraba State, Ishaya Gani, who confirmed the incident to Sunday Sun in Jalingo, said a mere argument between two football enthusiasts snowballed into a bloody battle with deep religious sentiment.

“It was an argument between two football fans coming back from morning training, but one of them brought out a pistol and killed his friend,” he said. Angered by the killing of one of their colleagues, youths in the area mobilised and killed the assailant in what residents described as mob action. Hell was let loose as members of the community engaged in bloodbath along religious lines, burning houses and killing one another.

The burnt 300 houses and other properties belonged to both Christians and Muslims in the community. Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Taraba State Police Command, Mr. Amos Alaoye, said security men have been drafted to Wukari to control the situation. He also said the state police command was yet to be briefed on the number of casualties.

-Sun

Since the air mishap, few days ago, which almost consumed the life of the Taraba state governor, Danbaba Suntai and few others, the people of the state and curious Nigerians like this writer have had to contend with series of lies, coverups and deceit from the political elites all in the name of perpetrating themselves in power and further denigrating the principles of democracy and the rule of law.

As a Nigerian, it is unbelievable that the political class have refused to learn from history and therefore, allowed history to repeat itself. There is nothing wrong when history repeats itself, what is however wrong is to allow those horrendous and unfortunate events of the historical past run its cycle again. Such is what is happening in Taraba state.

Not many would forget in a hurry the political imbroglio that engulfed the political scene few years back, nearly tearing the country apart. There was a president who was incapacitated and could not even speak, yet some few elements in Aso Rock did all in their capacity to tell shocking Nigerians that an incapacitated man could rule from anywhere. They went as far as using a popular foreign media to get the president to talk in order to allay the fears of Nigerians even when the government owned media houses could have done such. They held Aso Rock with a heavy hand and refused to allow the Vice-President serve even in acting capacity. It would only take pressures from civil society groups and the vast majority of the people before common sense eventually prevailed.

One would have thought such unfortunate event in the history of the country would have been settled once and for all, not until the wife of the president, the latter who had once fallen victim of the cabal in Aso Rock, also disappeared without trace and for any cogent reason. Speculations were rife that Dame Jonathan was diagnosed of a million and one ailment when infact nothing of such was wrong with her. Her return at the nick of time quickly doused whatever speculation Nigerians and the media had earlier about her.

Many were still trying to get over the Dame Jonathan health razzmatazz, when the same trend of playing politics with issues relating to the health of the political class suddenly evolved right in far away Germany when few days back, photos of the recuperating governor of Taraba state, Danbaba Suntai were released to the media. In one of the photos, Mr Suntai was shown carrying one his twin babies, flanked by his wife and the other of the twin babies as well as a family friend.

The pictures depicted Mr Suntai sitting on a special support chair, holding one of his twin babies and showing no emotion. The pictures were intended to be clear to the eyes of those intended to see them, convincing them that all was well with the governor. Despite the pictorial politics whoever was behind sending the pictures to the media wanted to play to blind the masses, it certainly failed to assuage the fears of the people, for no matter how long one hides a dead body, the stench will sooner expose it.

Mr Suntai betrayed all emotions in the pictures simply because he was shown only smiling yet visibly lost in alertness. An alert governor who truely was recuperating would have insisted his photographers snapped him while hugging his wife, dancing and playing around with his friends and kids or even waving to the public. Rather, the picture showed Mr Suntai as one who did not understand what was happening around him and looked dribble. It is quite unfortunate that those who posted the picture failed to realise that pictures do not lie and if truely those where the faces of Mr Suntai, then something urgent must be done to make him recuperate in peace rather than forcing the poor man believed to be brain dead on the people of Taraba.

No matter what the Commisioner for Information, Mr Emmanuel Bello wants to have the people of the state believe, he and his ilk must understand that lying before their own people will not solve the already tensed situation in the state. The true nature and health status of the governor must be stated and known. In a situation of this nature where confusion in the political equation of the state is rearing its ugly head and especially when ethnic and religious schemes play a dominant role in the political sustainability in the state, common sense must begin to prevail.

Simply because we do not want another Northern state whose history has always been rife with peace and tranquility to suddenly go on fire, because we do not want soldiers to occupy once again, like some Northern states, a once peaceful turned troubled state caused by the actions of politicians, and because we do not want religious and ethnic bigots to over run the state just like they had done with Jos, all those who hold Taraba state dear in their hearts must ensure that those few who are bent on subverting the rule of law are quickly replaced. Taraba state must not stand on the wrong side of history for its destiny is in the hands of both the politicians and its people.

Former governor of Adamawa State, Boni Haruna, has said that the alleged plan to remove from office, the governor of Taraba State, Danbaba Suntai, is wicked, callous and irresponsible. Haruna, who suffered a similar fate in the twilight of his days in office during the power tussle between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said for somebody to contemplate removing Danbaba because he is undergoing treatment at this point in time without actually knowing the issues, his state of health, is uncalled for.

Suntai, is presently recuperating in a hospital in Hanover, Germany, from injuries he sustained in a plane crash on October 25, 2012. He was reported to have personally piloted the plane. Haruna, who governed Adamawa from 1999 to 2007, revealed that everything said about Danbaba, that “he is brain dead” and “his case is irredeemable,” are just imaginations and not based on facts of his health status.

He further said: “If he was brain dead, nobody can tell you that he saw the report. It is just typical of Nigerians,” he said, adding: “To me, it is overstretching the fundamentals of politics.” While noting that politics is all about power, Haruna said: “But even in politics, there is compassion,” stating: “In the situation Danbaba found himself, what is required of every Nigerian, is prayers because it can happen to anybody. “Even if you don’t pilot the aircraft as he did himself, it can happen to you from the commercial aircraft. Even on the road, it can happen to you if you go by the road.

So, people should not remove compassion and morality from politics.” While refusing to bring in religious dimension into the politics occasioned by the ill-health of Suntai in Taraba State, Haruna said: “It is purely politics, it is purely the wickedness of heart.” Quoting the scriptures, Haruna said: “Even the scriptures acknowledge that the heart of man is full of evil,” declaring: “That is typical of what is happening.” According to him “there is no justification to call for Danbaba’s impeachment or removal from office. He had this accident on October 25.

And even in the civil service, if you give somebody acting position, he can act for three months before you even confirm him. “Danbaba has not even met the standard of even the civil service where you can function in an acting position just as his deputy is acting for him. And the framers of the constitution were not foolish to have provided for a deputy anyway. “We have had a situation in this country where the President of the Court of Appeal has been on suspension for almost a year. And throughout this period, his office was being acted by some other persons and for almost one year.

Is it because they were not elected? It is still a very important office, at least, another arm of government. “So, there is virtually no difference. And I don’t see the hurry. It is about morality. Even this provision of the constitution we are talking about, Section 190, every provision of the constitution, we must also exercise it with some level of responsibility. “For me, the call for the impeachment of Danbaba is just a wicked and callous one and it is irresponsible,” Haruna maintained. Asked if he was confident that Suntai would bounce back hale and hearty, Haruna said:“Absolutely! Absolutely! Even the photograph you saw, he is not somebody that is in a hopeless situation.

“Even if he is on a wheelchair, so long as he has a sound mind, he doesn’t look like somebody that is brain dead that they have been talking about or somebody who has problem with his spinal cord. If he has problem with his spinal cord, he won’t be able to sit. So, that photograph, at least, is a testimony to the fact that he is potentially picking up. “And instead of us to complement him with prayers so that he can fully walk into the purpose of God in his life, people are just contemplating impeachment and what have you. But for me, I am not surprised because I have a testimony.

“At a point, I didn’t travel out of the country on treatment, I was not sick, I was not involved in any accident; I went for my normal vacation, I transmitted a letter to the House, they acknowledged receipt, but in less than 10 days that I was away, my own deputy declared that he was the governor and even went ahead to sack my executive council. He dissolved my executive council, sacked other people from government.

“So, if that could happen to me at a point in time even though it was a period of political confusion, at the height of the quarrel between President Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku, you can see what external forces can do to overheat the system and I think the acting governor of Taraba, the deputy, will be ill-advised to fall into this gambit.”

A source close to a senior member of the delegation described the trip to see Mr. Suntai as highly secretive. SaharaReporters learnt that members of the delegation had officially traveled to Vatican City in Rome to witness the consecration of Archbishop John Onaiyekan as a Cardinal of the Catholic Church. After the ceremony in Italy, the delegation then made a quick detour to Germany to see the injured Mr. Suntai. A trip put together by Gladys Modupeola Quist-Adebiyi, a staff of the Protocol Department at the Presidency was led by Senate President, David Mark. The delegation included Governor Ibrahim Yakowa of Kaduna State, President Goodluck Jonathan’s Chief of Staff, Mike Oghiadomhe.

Also on the delegation was John Kennedy Opara, the secretary of the Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission (NCPC) and the Chaplain of the Presidential Villa Chapel, Venerable Obioma Onwuzurumba. Our source said members of the delegation were shocked to see Mr. Suntai in a vegetative state. “His condition was so bad that they could not publicly disclose his condition after they returned to Nigeria,” said the source. SaharaReporters gathered that Mr. Suntai suffered brain damage in the crash of the small plane he was piloting. The crash happened a short distance from the Yola airport. Initial reports from eyewitnesses said Mr. Suntai had died, but it later emerged that he had survived the crash, albeit with critical injuries. He was transferred to the National Hospital in Abuja before being airlifted to Germany after President Jonathan had visited him and given a rosy picture of his condition. Four state officials traveling with Mr. Suntai in the crashed plane were treated in hospitals in Adamawa and later transferred to Germany for treatment after a public outcry.

Since Mr. Suntai’s airlift to Germany, officials of the Taraba State Government have engaged in propaganda, claiming that the governor was making remarkable recovery. But sources, including an official of the state government, admitted that Mr. Suntai’s mental faculty had deteriorated since the accident and that his memory was virtually impaired. “It is possible that he suffered brain damage because there was some delay before he could be taken abroad,” said a state official. Contacted by SaharaReporters, a Taraba-born political activist who is based in Abuja, said he also heard about the visit to the ailing governor by Senate President Mark’s delegation.

He wondered if Mr. Mark’s silence on Governor Suntai’s health status signaled a scheme by President Jonathan to delay the swearing in of the deputy governor as the substantive governor. “We all know how President Umaru Yar’Adua’s people continued to deceive Nigerians that the man was recovering well and how they even brought him back in a comatose state and declared that he was in control of Nigeria,” said the activist. He added: “I hope President Jonathan and the PDP are not planning a similar scenario, whereby they will declare that Governor Suntai is in control until they find a malleable successor who suits them.”

The activist stated that the Presidency should state the truth about the injured governor’s condition to enable the people of Taraba to move ahead with a new administration. “The fact that the people of Taraba have not heard from or seen the governor since the air crash on October 25 2012 means that the man is no longer fit to govern them,” he said.

Via Sun

According to reports, the hired pilot had earlier warned the governor against flying to the airport when it was obvious that they could not meet with the visual flight mandatory for that type of aircraft which is not in the instrument flight category.

Nigerian Tribune learnt that this advice was allegedly jettisoned by  Governor Suntai who was said to have immediately taken over the cockpit and embarked on the ill-fated journey with the said pilot refusing to join the flight because of the obvious risk.

Yola airport is not in the category of airports where flights can be operated  for 24 hours because it is not well-equipped which makes it a no go area after 6.00 p.m.

Only Lagos, Kano, Abuja and Port Harcourt are on 24-hour flight operations.

According to the country’s aviation policy, small jets like the Cessna plane Governor Suntai piloted on the day in question was only allowed to fly based on visuals from morning to 6.00 p.m. daily. 

And once the sun sets, it is always difficult to fly smaller aircraft like the governor’s plane.

The governor, who has since been flown to Germany for adequate treatment in view of the injury he sustained in the crash, obtained a private pilot licence from the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology, Zaria, which allows him to fly himself.

The ill-fated plane which departed Jalingo, Taraba State, for Yola, Adamawa State, was reported to have lost contact with the Yola Control Tower (1720Z) and field in sight at 38 miles, estimating landing at 1730Z before crashing. 

-Tribune