The Governors of Benue and Taraba States have agreed on a joint committee for the purpose of bringing “harmony and peace between the two states.”
Benue and Tataba States have suffered decades of border conflict, even as the Tiv, who have been delineated with Taraba State, have continued to suffer violence in the North East State.
The governors of the two states met on Monday, March 2, at Wukari, Taraba State, for peace and security talks. The meeting was attended by security chiefs, top government functionaries from the two states, and traditional rulers. This is the second time the governors of the two states have met over issues of security and peace; the first was between Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu and Rev. Jolly Nyame during the aborted Third Republic.
Benue State Governor, Fr. Hyacinth Alia, said after the meeting that “a framework is being drafted” that would be followed “very religiously to ensure that there is peace and there is security both in Benue and in Taraba.”
He invited the people to support the initiative as the committee would “be meeting on very regular times so that we achieve what we pray for.”
“This is an initiative that we decided to put in place – myself and my brother, the Governor of Benue State. In no distant time, we are going to inaugurate this committee, and we will work, and there will be peace by the grace of God,” Governor Agbua Kefas of Taraba State said in his address to thousands at the sidelines of the meeting.
“We will make sure that you go back to your village and not only to back to your village but to go back to your village that is safe for you to go to farm,” the Taraba State Governor assured.
Membership of the committee is yet to be made public.
