INSECURITY:Bissaula Community Leader Raises Alarm Over Renewed Attack, Calls for Lasting Security Deployment.

By Jako Keke, November 22,2025.

A community leader in Bissaula Ward of Kurmi Local Government Area, Taraba State, Alhaji Idi Ismaila, has decried a fresh wave of violence that disrupted the fragile peace recently restored to the area. He made the remarks during a press briefing where he recounted the latest attack and appealed for urgent government intervention.

According to Ismaila, the Bissaula community was thrown into panic on Wednesday, 19 November 2025, at about 8:00 p.m., when unknown gunmen, suspected to be members of the Ndaka-Chamba militia, stormed the village and opened fire. Their primary target was said to be Baba Umaru Gambo, a former youth leader of the community and current Commander of the Taraba Marshal in Kurmi Local Government Area.

Ismaila explained that Gambo and another resident, Kefas Hassan Bui, were seated outside when the attackers arrived. Both men fled, but the assailants allegedly pursued Gambo, shooting him multiple times and leaving him with serious injuries. He is currently receiving medical treatment, while Bui escaped unharmed.

The community leader lamented that despite multiple peace efforts initiated by successive administrations and community stakeholders, the latest attack casts doubts on claims that normalcy has returned to Bissaula.

He recalled that since the first major attack on 16 December 2021—when the Ndaka-Chamba faction allegedly invaded Bissaula, killing several residents and destroying properties—government, traditional institutions, and civil society groups have pursued numerous peace initiatives. These included a Commission of Inquiry set up by former Governor Darius Ishaku, as well as a peace accord brokered in Baissa last year under the administration of Governor Agbu Kefas.

He noted that confidence in the peace process had grown significantly following last year’s assessment visit by security operatives and government officials, the Ichen Traditional Council’s reconciliation efforts, and recent instances where corpses of both Ichen and Ndaka-Chamba natives who died outside the community were brought home for burial—an indication, he said, that peace was returning.

“Regrettably, all these efforts have been bastardized by this renewed attack,” Ismaila stated.

He called on Governor Kefas to urgently deploy a permanent security team to Bissaula Ward to protect residents and prevent further violence. He also appealed to non-governmental organizations and religious groups to intensify peace awareness campaigns, particularly among the Chamba group, to foster harmonious coexistence.

Reaffirming the Ichen community’s commitment to peace, Ismaila stressed the need for all sides to embrace dialogue to ensure long-term stability in the resource-rich land.

Commenting in an interview, a former Chairman of Kurmi Local Government Council, Hon. Stephen Ibrahim Agya, described the renewed hostility as unfortunate and a clear violation of the peace accord earlier signed between the Ichen and Ndakka ethnic groups.

Agya, who also once served as Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), Taraba State, narrated how the Ndakka ethnic group has, over the years, continued to pose a threat to the Ichen people in the Bissaula community.

He called on security agencies to ensure the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators of the heinous acts, stressing that doing so would serve as a deterrent to others.

Hon. Agya further appealed to the Taraba State Government to urgently deploy security personnel to the area to restore law and order, and to establish a permanent security outpost in Bissaula to forestall future attacks.

Efforts to contact the Police Public Relations Officer PPRO Taraba State Command ASP Ishaku Victor Mshelizah for comment proved abortive.