The Aku-Uka of Wukari in Taraba State, His Royal Majesty Dr Ishaku Adda Ali, has raised the alarm over the escalating insecurity gripping communities linked to the historic Kwararafa kingdom, declaring that the region is under siege by bandits.
Speaking at the 2026 Kwararafa People’s Assembly meeting held in Abuja over the weekend, the monarch said the security crisis affecting the old Kwararafa Confederacy could no longer be ignored.
He noted that several communities across parts of Benue, Kogi, Taraba, Southern Kaduna, Nasarawa, Plateau and Niger states have been devastated by banditry, herder-farmer violence, kidnapping and a sustained campaign of displacement.
These attacks, he said, have emptied entire communities and turned thousands of people into refugees in their own country.
Farmers can no longer access their farms, traders are unable to go to markets, children cannot attend school, and elders have seen their ancestral homes reduced to ashes.
“We do not come here to accuse, but to say, we need help,” Dr Ali stated. “And we come here to say that the help must be real, it must be sustained, and it must reach the communities that are suffering, not stop at the level of communiques and conferences.”
The traditional ruler also expressed regret over the divisions that have long separated Jukun kinsmen and other groups of the defunct Kwararafa confederacy along political, religious and ethnic lines.
He questioned why peoples who once built a common political house in the 15th century, including the Jukun, Idoma, Igala, Ebira, Alago, Nupe, Tarok, Angas, Eggon and others, could not do the same in the 21st century.
As chief convener of the meeting, Dr Ali explained that the gathering aimed to revive the spirit of unity that once characterised the Kwararafa confederacy, which had brought diverse peoples of the Niger-Benue confluence together into a respected political and cultural formation.
Taraba State Governor Agbu Kefas, who served as co-convener, described himself as a proud son of the Kwararafa kingdom.
He emphasised that the assembly was not a Taraba State government programme or a platform for any personal, political or sectional agenda, but an opportunity for people sharing a common heritage to renew their vision and contribute more effectively to national development and peace.
Other traditional rulers present, including the Ohimegye of Opanda-Umaisha kingdom, HRH Alhaji Usman Abdullahi, underscored the shared ancestry of groups under the historic kingdom and called for greater identification and cooperation among them.
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