…We won’t recognize them – Kuteb leadership threatens

From Godwin Agia, in Jalingo

After decades of tussle for the traditional stool of Ukwe Takum, in Takum Local Government Area of Taraba State, the State Governor Dr Agbu Kefas on Monday night, presented staff of office to a newly appointed first class chief of Takum and three other second class chiefs at the Government House in Jalingo.

This came as the Kuteb Yatso of Nigeria, the umbrella body of Kuteb people worldwide, arguably the original custodians of the Ukwe Stool, have insisted that they would not recognize the new chief and would exhaust every legal means to recover their supposedly ancestral stool.

The stool of Ukwe Takum, traditionally a Kuteb stool, has remained vacant since the death of the last Ukwe Takum in 1996, following agitations by the Chamba tribe in Takum Local Government area of the state to also have a shot at the Stool.

The last administration of Governor Darius Ishaku made attempts to install a new Ukwe but could not succeed.

 However, the Kefas-led administration has sponsored a law at the State House of Assembly that has abolished the seat of Ukwe Takum and replaced it with the Chief of Takum which will be rotational among the three tribes of Chamba, Jukun and Kuteb, an arrangement Kuteb stakeholders have refused to be a part of.

At a nocturnal event at the Government House Jalingo, the State Governor announced the appointment of HRH Sopiya Ahmadu Gboshi as the new First Class Chief Of Takum, alongside HRH Uhwe Ephraim as the Third Class Chief,  Jukun-Takum Chiefdom, and HRH Suleiman Salihu as the Kur Garbabi Chiefdom.

In his remarks, Governor Agbu Kefas said that the move marked a great moment in the collective movement to restore peace and order in Takum, noting that the vacant stool of Takum has been a cause for division and tension in Takum for nearly three decades and it takes a government with the political will to correct it.

The Governor also announced an endowment fund for the development of Takum with a focus to rehabilitate displaced persons and restore destroyed communities. 

Speaking on behalf of the appointees, Chief Sopiya Ahmadu Gboshi thanked the State Governor for considering them worthy of the title, and described Takum Chieftaincy as a unique tussle that has lingered for too long.

He urged the state governor to “put in the same energy you put in to resolve the issue of Chieftaincy tussle in Takum to resolve all other crises in the State. We are extremely grateful and promise to work diligently for the good of our people”.

Meanwhile, the Kuteb Yatso of Nigeria (KYN), have described the appointment of the New Chiefs as a gross act of injustice and broadlight attempted theft of their heritage that will be resisted vehemently using every legal means.

President of the Association Mr Emmanuel Ukwe said that “the Kuteb nation dissociates itself from the charade that took place last night at the Government House. We have a substantive Ukwe Takum that has been selected in line with our tradition and culture. He is the only Ukwe Takum that we will recognize. We have already instructed our lawyers to proceed on appeal.

“Let me appeal to all our people to remain calm as we are exploring every legal means to make sure that we get justice and our ancestral heritage is not bastardized. This is culture and a traditional stool. It can not be politicized”