Taraba: Kuteb Youths Forum Opposes Creation of Three Chiefdoms in Takum
Callistus Agwaza, Jalingo
The Kuteb Youths Forum (KYF) has opposed the proposal by the Taraba State Governor, Dr. Agbu Kefas to create three chiefdoms in Takum.
This was contained in a statement signed by Mr Danjuma Rimamnde, spokesman of the group which was made available to newsmen in Jalingo on Friday.
It stated that such an action was capable of undermining the seat of Ukwe, the Paramount traditional stool of Takum.
The statement said that the KYF was still standing with the decision of the Kuteb traditional committee on non-rotation of the Ukwe Takum stool.
According to the statement, Takum Chieftancy stool is the birthright and inheritance of the two ruling houses of Likam and Akente and should not in any way be substituted/rotated with anyone for any developmental agenda.
It further stated that traditional stools were sacred and represented the culture and custom of the aborigins which was quite different from political and social affairs as seen in other places.
The statement quoted the forum as referring to Gov. Agbu Kefas’s statement that, he had solved much worrisome issues in the Niger-Delta compared to the Ukwe stool quagmire.
” It is worthy of note that the stool of Ukwe Takum is governed by custom and tradition and is recognized by Taraba State chieftaincy laws which is not in consonance with the political and social pandemonium in the Niger- Delta led by Tompolo as referred to by Gov Kefas.
“Never in the history of African traditional settings has any sequence of traditional leadership lineage that has existed for centuries been destroyed to allow a new dynasty to be established or created.
“This is unacceptable, strange and alien. We in totality reject the proposal by the state government to create three chiefdoms in Takum undermining the existing Ukwe stool.
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“To the best of our knowledge, there are existing laws that gave legal backing to the traditional stool of Ukwe Takum. We hereby refer Your Excellency to Taraba State chieftaincy laws from 1991 till date.
“Therefore, it is worrisome for anybody to have misled His Excellency, the governor of Taraba, Dr Agbu Kefas that the stool of Ukwe Takum was never in existence.
” The kuteb youths look at any action to erase the existing history in respect of Ukwe Takum as observed as an outright confrontation to the kuteb race as a people.
” And any attempt to distort the existing history concerning the stool of Ukwe Takum will amount to injustice to the entire kuteb as a people,” it stated.
The Kuteb youth forum urged the Governor to rather address the more disturbing cases of herdsmen crisis/Banditry that engulfed over 150 kuteb communities for over five years with no government intervention rather than igniting a fresh crisis in the area.
The statement however, commended the governor for giving the forum an audience through the meeting held on 3rd February, 2024 between His Excellency and the Kuteb Youths Forum.
