Taraba monarch, farmers differ over alleged seizure of farmlands

FOR several hours yesterday, the people of Kir community in Gassol Local Council of Taraba State took to the streets to protest the alleged seizure of their farmlands by their ruler, Alhaji Idris Yakubu Chiroma.The protesters told journalists that they resorted to the peaceful demonstration to draw the attention of the state government and other Nigerians to their plight.Their spokesman, Mallam Ismaila Umaru Jiru, claimed that since Chiroma became the Lamido of Gassol, he had forcefully taken over large expanse of lands from them, thereby denying them their means of livelihood.But in a swift reaction, a palace official told The Guardian that the monarch had never seized lands from any person in the community. He said the farmers were only spreading falsehood against the ruler for selfish reasons.The official, who sought anonymity, said: 'His royal highness is not in the palace and most of his cabinet members have gone out on different assignments. As you know, I am not the right person to speak on his behalf but all I know is that what they accused the ruler of doing is not true.'Jiru said it was sad that the traditional ruler, who ought to be the custodian of the law, was threatening the peace and security of the land through his anti-people action.He said that by confiscating their lands, Chiroma had taken food out of the mouths as 'over 63 farmers have been dispossessed of the farmlands by the Lamido of Gassol.'For peace to reign in the community, Jiru appealed to Governor Danbaba Suntai to call the traditional to order.Jiru said: 'The governor and security agencies must discourage the monarch from terrorising his subjects. The era of kings behaving as emperors is over especially now that your administration is consolidating on his gains for the speedy development of the state and better life for the people.'The institution of chiefdom is historic, sensitive and respected centuries upon centuries. The activity of people like Chiroma is capable of eroding the confidence of the people in the monarchy.'A senior police officer told The Guardian that 'the command is aware of this lingering crisis in Gassol. We have been briefing our command on it and I believed our commissioner is doing his best to end the feud.'He said: 'Although the monarch is very influential in the state because he was once a member of the Taraba House of Assembly, that would not discourage my boss from taking relevant action because the peace and security of the state matter a lot to him.
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