A Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. David Tanko, was yesterday killed by yet-to-be identified gunmen in Taraba State.
“After killing him, the killers set him and his car, a white Toyota Corolla, on fire. He was burnt beyond recognition,” eyewitnesses said.
The deceased was in charge of St. Peter’s Catholic Parish at Amadu —a Tiv settlement in Takum Local Government.
The cleric was among hundreds of innocent people who were feared killed in the ongoing hostilities between Jukun and Tiv ethnic groups in Taraba State.
It was gathered that the Jukun/Tiv crisis is an aged-long recurring feud, whose cause is a claim by the Jukun that the Tiv are “settlers,” in Taraba State, and therefore, have no ownership right to the land they occupy and should leave.
Tanko, despite being a Jukun from Wukari, continued his religious work in the Tiv settlement (Amadu) since the Jukun/Tiv crisis began at Kente village of Wukari about five months ago.
The crisis began in Kente on April 1 and spread to Donga and Takum local governments, including the Federal University Wukari campus, which was shut down.
It was gathered that Tanko had left the church at Amadu to attend a peace meeting on the lingering Jukun/Tiv crisis with his fellow clergymen in Takum yesterday.
“On his way back to Amadu (from Takum), between Kasuwan Haske and Tor-Tser, he was killed,” the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Jalingo, Most Rev. Charles Hammawa, told reporters.
He said: “We received the news of his death with shock and great sadness. The diocese is mourning.
“We have been preaching peace and making efforts to bring both parties in the crisis to a round table discussion.
“For a priest who has been preaching peace to be killed in this most gruesome manner is pathetic, to say the least. A priest belongs to all.
“For now, we are not pointing accusing finger at any group.
“The police have promised me that they are investigating the case. We pray that the perpetrators are brought to book.
“Our basic concern now is to give him a befitting burial. We don’t want any group to go for reprisal. Going for reprisal will only worsen the situation.”
