Group Tasks Taraba Gov to Halt Planned Installation of Makama of Takum

Wole Ayodele in Jalingo

Kuteb Yatso of Nigeria (KYN), the umbrella body of the Kuteb tribe in Taraba State, has called on Governor Agbu Kefas to immediately suspend the planned installation of Alhaji Yaro Garba Maigyada as Makama of Takum in the interest of peace.

Addressing a press conference in Jalingo on Friday in conjunction with the Akenten, Acwumam and Likam clans of the Kuteb nation, KYN noted that the proposed installation, which is scheduled to hold Saturday, July 22, 2023, is grossly provocative and an invitation to crisis in Takum.

Besides, the group further stated that the planned installation negates the directive of Governor Kefas suspending the appointment and coronation of district/village heads and traditional title holders in the state as contained in a circular dated 30th June, 2023 and marked GHJ/BLG&CA/S.260/T.

KYN President, Comrade Emmanuel Ukwen, told journalists that the press conference  became necessary in view of the prevailing security challenges in Takum, adding that Takum has been bedevilled with numerous crisis since the demise of the Ukwe Takum, Alhaji Ali Ibrahim Kufang II, in 1996.

The Ukwe Takum stool, according to the group, has been vacant since then following the controversies surrounding who should ascend the throne, adding that the numerous crisis in the area is attributable to the absence of a paramount ruler.

“We note with utmost dismay a recent invitation card on social media for the installation of one Alhaji Taro Garba Maigyada as ‘Makama of Takum’. This is coming despite the recent directive by the Taraba State Government suspending the appointments or coronation of district/village heads and all traditional title holders in the state.

“The proposed coronation, to say the least, is grossly provocative and an invitation to fuel further crisis in Takum. We must emphatically say Takum is not a free-for-all land where Takum traditional ruling houses will sit and watch while various unknown traditional titles are being dished out and conferred on people by unauthorized persons or group of persons.

“Gentlemen of the press, the proposed title of ‘Makama’ is alien to Takum traditional institution. After all, Makama is a Hausa word meaning ‘person who selects/recommend the next successor to the traditional stool’. This runs contrary to the norms, customs and traditions of Takum Chiefdom,” he said.

Insisting that the planned installation is a ploy by the enemies of peace to disrupt the prevailing relative peace in Takum and its environs, the group called on the peace loving governor of the state, Kefas, to urgently take proactive steps towards halting the coronation of any person or group of persons as Makama Takum or any similar such title.

In the same vein, KYN charged all security agencies to take all the necessary measures to ensure that peace prevails in Takum and its environs, just as it urged all peace loving indigenes/citizens to impress on the state/Federal Government to halt the proposed coronation.