How fatal violence erupted in Taraba community after installation of traditional ruler

The Wurkuns and the Karimjo ethnic groups of Karim Lamido Local Government of Taraba State have lived together peacefully for decades until the installation of the town’s new monarch, Yakubu Kirim.

The town was turned into a theatre of violence and bloodbath on Saturday 6 May after a group of Karimjos protested the state governor’s installation of Mr Kirim as the new monarch.

The protesters said the governor, Darius Ishaku, should not have appointed an ethnic Wurkun as the monarch. They said his appointment was unfair to the Karimjos after the same governor recently created a chiefdom for the Wurkuns in neighbouring Bambur.

The tension created by the protests that were held in the main town and adjoining villages soon snowballed into mayhem. On 12 May, all hell was let loose when some members of both ethnic groups attacked each other.

Karimjos Accused Wurkuns Of Provoking Them to Act Violently

A former National President of the Karimjo Development Association, Samaila Zubairu, alleged that while celebrating the return of the newly installed monarch to Karim, the Wurkuns started mocking and harassing the Karimjos, calling them names. He claimed this was what triggered some Karimjo youth to attack the Wurkuns.

Mr Zubairu told PREMIUM TIMES that before the latest incidents, Karim Lamido was a peaceful local government area where the estimated 15 ethnic groups that are indigenous to the area lived in harmony. He said distrust set in after the state government created new chiefdoms in the area and sidelined some ethnic groups.

He claimed that the Karimjos, with a population of over 50,000, were not given a monarch despite being the first settlers in Karim and that was why the town was named after the ethnic group.

“We are Karim by tribe but the Jo that was added was by the Fulanis who were the second settlers, meaning ‘man of Karim’.

“After the Fulanis, many other tribes, including the Wurkuns came to settle with us in Karim and we have been relating well in several means.

“We are the real owners of the land and all the resources in the land but we are being oppressed in our own land,” he said.

“For many years, the Karimjos have been yearning for liberation and emancipation over the issue of chiefdom, we have written different requests to past and present administrations in the state but to no avail,” Mr Zubairu said.

“We felt it was time for us to be liberated and regain our chiefdom.”

“Our people felt that Governor Ishaku was not fair to us for giving an additional chiefdom to the Wurkuns in Bambur and also installed another Wurkun in Karim. That triggered our anger.

“Our youths when out on a peaceful protest which is a constitutional right to voice out their anger, unfortunately, some persons in high authority decided to send the army to beat and harass them.”

Mr Zubairu claimed that while celebrating the return of the new monarch to Karim last Friday, the Wurkuns started mocking the Karimjo by chanting provocative statements like: “Where are those who claimed to be the real owners of the land? Come out we will deal with you. They are cowards they have run away. Behold the king of Wurkun.”

He accused Wukun militias of attacking Karimjo settlements and destroying their properties.

He alleged that soldiers assisted the Wurkuns during the attacks by repelling the Karimjos when they tried to retaliate.

“Military that was drafted to the area were not neutral. They repelled our youths and out of anger our youths started burning the houses of the Wurkuns because they felt justice was being perverted,” he said.

He said it took the intervention of elders and leaders of the Karimjos to calm the situation.

“But unfortunately on Saturday the military invaded Karimjo settlements and killed more than 13 persons and many were injured.

“For now, we cannot ascertain the actual number of casualties because we are still gathering our losses caused by the military. If you go to Karim now, the settlement of Karimjo is empty, the military succeeded in displacing our people.

“And because the military succeeded in displacing them the Wurkun youths and militias came out in large numbers and burnt down all the settlements of the Karimjos,” Mr Zubairu alleged.

Mr Zubairu said the Wurkuns are taking advantage of their political and educational advancement to oppress them.

“Apart from having top political appointments and influential persons in the society, when you talk of the military they have Generals both serving and retired, they have senior serving and retired police officers, so I feel the military was sponsored to perpetrate the act,” he alleged.

We fought back in self-defence – Wurkuns

Wilfred Kwanchi, the national president of the Wurkun Community Development Association, on Sunday, dismissed the claim that his people instigated the clash. He said the Wurkun youths only fought back in self-defence.

Mr Kwanchi said when the Karimjos heard the announcement of the newly installed chief, they started burning tyres in Karim protesting and when the new chief was presented with the staff of office, everywhere was initially calm. But later that night, he said, the Karimjos went on the rampage, destroying and burning the houses of the Wurkuns in Karim.

He said he could not ascertain the level of damages and the number of dead persons from the Wurkun side because the attacks were still ongoing.

“Yesterday night there were villages that were attacked by the Karimjos and we were meant to understand that we lost some of our tribesmen and about six Wurkun villages were completely destroyed.

“The first village that was destroyed is called Balassa. Balassa has been in existence since before the Karimjos came to settle in Karim. I don’t want to give you half-baked information, we are waiting for a comprehensive report to come”.

He said contrary to claims by the Karimjos of being the original owners of the throne, the Wurkun chiefdom has been in existence since 1976 when the late chief of Wurkun was turbaned as a third-class chief.

Mr Kwanchi said if the Karimjos wanted a separate chiefdom, they should have requested it with credible arguments rather than resorting to violence and laying claim over what does not belong to them.

“The Karimjos were not in Karim Lamido, they were residing at the riverbank, the entire Karim Lamido was known as a Wurkun district even before the colonial era.”

He said the allegation that the Wurkuns used soldiers to kill and displace the Karimjos was false and malicious.

The military responds

A spokesperson of the 63 Brigade of the Nigerian Army stationed in the state denied the allegation that the military took sides in the crisis. He said the army is not an ethnic organisation and therefore could not have taken sides or molested any group. He said the military was only in Karim to ensure that they restore peace and the situation was brought under control.

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The spokesperson of the police in the state, Usman Abdullahi, said the casualties were still being compiled, but normalcy had been restored in the affected areas.

LG seeks support for IDPs.

The caretaker committee chairman of Karim Lamido Local Government Area, Shehu Vocks, has asked for the support of relevant agencies, corporate bodies and individuals in alleviating the sufferings of those displaced in Karim Lamido, saying they were in dire need of basic necessities of life.

Mr Vocks told PREMIUM TIMES that over one thousand persons, mostly women and children, were displaced and were taking refuge in primary schools in the neighbouring Lau Local Government Area as a result of the attacks.

He said the “hardship and confusion” caused by the crisis were “very painful”. While commending the state governor for the proactive measures he took to ensure that the situation was brought under control, he appealed to him to assist the IDPs.

Mr Vocks said he was working with security agencies to avoid reoccurrence of the situation.

“We implore our citizens to embrace peace and shun violence, in the spirit of this farming season,” he said.

Communal crisis not new to Karim Lamido

Karim Lamido LGA in northern Taraba is one of the oldest settlements in the state. The area has different ethnic groups such as the Karimjo, Wurkun, Jenjo, Bambuka, Munga, Kodei, Dadiya, Bandawa and Fulani.

The inhabitants are predominantly Christians due to early missionary activities but there are also Muslims and adherents of traditional religions in the area.

Though the area has been largely peaceful in recent decades, Bala Adamu, in a presentation at the Presidential Retreat on “Peace and Conflict Resolution in some central states of Nigeria,” held at the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos in 2002, said the conflict in Karim Lamido LGA in 1996-1997 was one of the well-known incidents of violent communal conflicts in the country.

“The perpetrators of this violence, on both sides, and even the actual planners, do not appear to gain anything tangible beyond the satisfaction of eliminating an “enemy”. But, in many cases, this elimination has also involved the destruction of some of the key human and material assets on which the economy of the community, no matter how inequitable, rests,” the late scholar said.

On 27 July 2021, a clash between farmers and herdsmen in the Jen community of Jen Ardido resulted in a large-scale displacement of people towards the neighbouring communities. According to an assessment conducted by DTM (Displacement Tracking Matrix) field office, the recorded displacement involved 792 individuals. A total of 20 casualties were recorded and three shelters were damaged. It said the affected population moved to neighbouring communities in search of safety.