14 houses set ablaze in Taraba State over change of a school’s name

No fewer than 14 houses were said to have been burnt and two people injured following an attack on Dan-Anacha Village under Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba State.

Local residents said the trouble started during the week following the directive of Governor Darius Ishaku that the name of the secondary school in the community is changed from Dan-Anacha to Kwararafa.

 Kelvin Katyo of Taraba Tiv Youth Council said that the governor had on November 15, 2019, in a letter through the Executive Secretary, post-School Management Board, directed the name change which did not go down well with the members of the community.  

 According to him, pupils of the school, who were not comfortable with the name change staged a protest demanding that the governor revert the decision. But they were attacked by irate youths.

Katyo said, “The Chief of Tiv in Gassol, Zaki Erentsa Simon, had prevailed on the Tiv people in the town to remain calm after the protest. But in the night, some people suspected to be Governor Ishaku’s sympathizers, attacked and burnt 14 houses belonging to the Tiv people in the town.  

“We wonder why the governor is doing what he is doing now. We don’t need a name change now because it will escalate tension in the state.”