By Femi Bolaji, Jalingo

Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State has cautioned security agencies against politicizing government efforts to restore lasting peace.

Ishaku, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Bala Dan Abu, was reacting to an allegation that the state government was operating an illegal security training camp in Gashaka local government area of the state.

Arc.-Darius-Ishaku

“We would like to caution against the attempt by security agencies to politicize genuine and patriotic efforts of the government to solve some of the problems affecting the unity and peaceful coexistence among our people”, the statement said.

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“Government has done nothing illegal and had no reason to hide the training exercise from the agencies, hence the notice given in advance to security agencies in the state.

“The training being conducted for the government by a licensed security agency – GH Security Services Ltd-is for Marshals as approved by the Taraba State House of Assembly under the state’s Open Grazing Restriction and Establishment of Ranches Law.

“The current training in Serti, Gashaka Local Government of Taraba State is the second of such exercise in the state  and it is also important to note the training does not involve the use of any form of weapons and several other states in the country have introduced or are in the process of introducing similar security outfits to deal with security problems peculiar to them.

“Before the training started, all the formations of the security agencies in the state were informed in writing. The letters were duly acknowledged as received.

“The duly signed acknowledgment copies of these letters returned by these agencies are in our possession. The government is, therefore, surprised that one of the recipients of these letters could turn round to deny knowledge of the training which is being conducted in the open – in a public school.”

Meanwhile, Sunday Vanguard  findings  revealed that some of the marshals have started working as they were seen in Takum, Wukari and parts of Donga.