One dead, many injured in renewed attack as Nyuwar community wants Judicial Commission of Inquiry

Gombe Governor, Inuwa Yahaya

By Akanji Alowolodu, Gombe

Nyuwar Community Development Association (NCDA) in Gombe State has lamented incessant provocative attack by its neighbors, Waja which recent attack on Tuesday led to the death of one person while a Soldier was injured. 
The association is therefore calling on the State Government to as a matter of urgency constitute  a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into what it described as a consistent attack on their communities of Jessu and Nyuwar in Balanga LGA of Gombe State.
In a Press release by NCDA which was signed by it’s National Chairman, Galiyos Zullum, titled, ‘Nyuwar fourth unprovoked attack by suspected Waja Militia’, the Association said setting up the commission of Inquiry has long been over due following the persistent attacks on them.

According to them, “the Gombe State Government should set up the commission of Inquiry as done in other areas of communal clashes, to investigate the immediate remote cause of these persistent attacks and those found guilty should be made to face the wrath of the law”.
The indigenous Lunguda tribe of Nyuwar had reported in the release that, a Lunguda Youth had gone to fetch water in the morning of that fateful day (Tuesday) from a stream used by both Waja and the Lunguda at Tudun Wada in Gulyimora village, Nyuwar, to start the building of his house destroyed during last last year April attack.
He was chased away and injured with matchete while his mud house was brought down by the Waja militia, they alleged. He ran to a nearby secondary school as they followed him and harassed all the other students who also ran away for their dear lives.
The report said, the army was alerted and as they came to repel the attack, the Waja militia mobilized themselves and in the fracas, one soldier was shot while they started burning some houses in Larkum and Pandi villages. 
The pastorium of the African Church Nyuwar was also burnt down where a life was lost and many others were injured.
The Nyuwar community also recalled that on 12th and 13th April, 2021, Jessu and Nyuwar communities were attacked by the same Waja militia with over 20 persons killed, while over 2,000 houses burnt and property worth millions of naira destroyed.
The NCDA stated further that the two communities of Nyuwar and Jessu, had expected that after Governor Inuwa Yahaya’s visit, a commission of Inquiry will be set up. 
It stated also that While that was not done, only three months after, 26th and 27th July, 2021, there was another attack and eleven months after, the fourth and recent attack was carried out, all because no commission of Inquiry was set up.
Apart from the commission of Inquiry, the NCDA also called for a Technical Assessment Committee to be put in place to assess the level of destruction and those affected be compensated accordingly.
It also said that, “the condition of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s), old men, women and children be urgently looked into”.
It will be recalled that Nyuwar community was allegedly attacked Tuesday, February 8, 2022, afternoon by Waja militia where a soldier was shot while trying to repel the attack and another civilian killed during the attack.