Under the platform of the Mumuye Cultural Development Association, Taraba youths have issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Emir of Muri, Abbas Tafida, to compensate Mumuye farmers for destroying their farms.
The group accused Tafida of destroying their crops at Kachalla village in the Ardo-Kola local government area.
In an open letter to the emir signed by the president-general of the association, Mr Ezekiel Augustine, which was made available to LEADERSHIP, he accused Tafida of destroying the crops planted by Mumuye farmers on a large area covering over two hundred hectares.
The emir of Muri was recently appointed by Governor Agbu Kefas as the state’s chairman of Agricultural Sustainability and Food Security, a move by the governor to create harmonious relationships between herders and farmers for food sustainability.
The youths in the letter express disappointment with the actions of the paramount ruler, who is responsible for encouraging food production in the state but instead decided to send many families into perpetual hunger.
“It is on record that the people of Kachalla have been renting your farmland for over (25) years for agricultural purposes through your farm manager, Mr Umaru Kona. After paying for the 2024 rainy season and planting their crops, you ordered your tractors to plough their farms (destroying their crops) and plant grasses for your cows.
“Your actions and dehumanisation have rendered over 40 families farmless. This inhuman act is a clear indication that you value your cows more than human beings.
“One could be tempted to ask, as the chairman of Taraba State Agricultural Sustainability and Food Security, could it be another policy of your committee to destroy crops and plant grasses as a way forward to Agricultural sustainability and food security? If yes, the Taraba Agricultural sector will face food insecurity in the coming years, and your committee will lead us to agricultural doom.
“Mumuye people form 40 percent of the farmers in Taraba state, and your actions in Kachalla village made us lose confidence in you as the state’s food security chairman.
“The entire Mumuye youths are demanding a public apology to our stakeholders from you and reverse your ill statement on Mumuye people within 72 hours. We also demand compensation for the farms and crops you destroyed for the people of Kachalla village in the Iware Ward of Ardo-Kola Local government area in the interest of peace.”
Our correspondent gathered that the letter was copied to the governor of Taraba State, the state deputy governor, the speaker of the Taraba State House of Assembly, the SGS, the chairman of the Taraba State Council of Chiefs and Emirs, the state commissioner of police, and the director of DSS.
When the secretary of the emir council, Alhaji Usman Saidu, was asked for a response, he said the palace had yet to get a copy of the letter for confirmation.