Alleged Killers Of Ponzhi Vongjen Wuyep Installed As Community Head, As Gwaram Community Decries Land Grabbing In Wase LGA

Yakubu Busari

The village head of Gwaram , Bashar Ward, Bashar District of Wase Local Government Council in Plateau State, Chief Nanzing Kum Wuyep has decried land grabbing, encroachment, and alleged assassination of Ponzhi Vongjen Wuyep by Rekna of Bashar and installation of Mallam Yunusa as the Chief of Gwaram community without the legal support of native law.

Speaking to this medium in Jos , Chief Nanzing Kum Wuyep raised the alarm that the Ponzhi Vongjen Wuyep was attacked by the Bashar district and gruesomely murdered without provocation.

The Tarok-speaking natives of the Kwararafa kingdom migrated from the Bantu people of the Congo and arrived through present-day Cameroon to Borno and spread across the length and breadth of Plateau Southern senatorial district of Plateau. The people are predominantly farmers, and hunters and have been paying royalty to Taraba the old Gongola state.

The two tax collectors from Wase LGA were Ponzhi Mer , and Ponzhi  Kumbwan including the Fulani before Sardauna constructed Dam No1 to attract herders or nomadic Fulani from Cameroon coming seasonally around Octobers and goes back April. 

Barr.Singa Edward Zhattau , solicitor to Chief Vongjen Wuyep appealed for the reversal of the purported installation of Mallam Yunusa Ali as the Chief of the Gwaram community of Bashar chiefdom in Wase LGA on 3rd January 2022 and the letter was received by Zakari Abdullahi Adam on the 8th January,2022.

Where he said,” We are solicitors to Chief Vongjen Wuyep, the Ponzhi of Gwaram who will be referred to as “our client” in the course of this correspondence and it is in accordance with his instructions that we write to you.

It is our client’s briéf that the stool of the Chief or “Ponzhi” or “Sarki” of Gwaram is a heritage of his ancestors and upon being chosen by the community ta ascend to that stool, he was duly installed as the Chief of Gwaram by the current Rekna of Bashar, Alhaji Adamu Idris since 1996″.

However, on the 26th day of December 2021, you held a ceremony : in your palace whereby You purportedly turbaned one Mallam Yunusa Ali who; holds the title of Sarkin) Matamai Bashar as the chief of Gwaram, , ° consequent upon which, the said Mallam Yunusa marched into the Gwaram community with his entourage after and on the same day of the coronation.

The révulsion that greeted the entry of Mallam Yunusa Ali from the generality of members of the Gwaram community was so intense that he could not even pass the night in the community, and since then, is yet to get foot in the community as at the time of writing, we find it compelling to seek clarity from you regarding the purported installation of Mallam Yunusa ° Ali as. Chief of Gwaram, even though, it is not in doubt that our client has been the Chief of Gwaram for decades, a fact which is not unknown to ‘ you.

This development has left the peaceable members of Gwaram community disenchanted, and we are of the humble view that the tension it has generated, if left unchecked, may result in the breakdown of law and order in the: community — a scenario that will be. all the more unwelcoming going by the ‘numerous other recipes for conflict that abound in our country.

In appealing ‘to your good office as District Head and a traditional ruler of repute in the land to do the needful, we humbly urge you to reverse any act that ‘might have accorded Mallam Yunusa Ali any semblance of authority inherent to the position of Chief of Gwaram, as there cannot be two Chiefs of Gwaram at a time.

We are not ‘ oblivious to the fact that our client and his subjects who are ‘predominantly Tarok, on the one hand, have had and maintained very 4‘warm relations with the Basharawas who on the other hand, are the predominantly the same ethnic group in the whole of the Bashar Chiefdom; in this light, therefore, may we reassure Your Highness that by this correspondence, we do not contemplate any action out of the ordinary that may negatively affect our well cherished and aged-long peaceful co-existence as a people. “

While we expect an expeditious reply to this correspondence from you through our client, may we also assure His Royal Highness that to the extent that any group of persons would want to return Wase L.G.A to the .edge of the precipice, our client and subjects’ as law-abiding citizens.

Before the arrival of our forefathers to Gwaram village of Bashar District, the Wase LGA was created in 1976 under Benue/Plateau , we were all answerable to Taraba Division, Muri province, while some Tarok were Bauchi Division , Dunguri province including Pankshin Division were under Bauchi and Jos Division.

However, with the creation of states by General Yakubu Gowon land was under the native authority and no Tarok was a stranger in Wase, Kanam, Pankshin , Mikang ,Shendam, Langtang North/South across villages self-acclaimed was ‘virgin, no human being ever settles in the village, until the arrival of our forefathers, who cleared the site and settle At first, our forefathers came to Madaci and settled there for some time with Boghwom (Burmawa), before finally moved to Gwaiam, which before then, Gwaram was virgin land, no one ever settles there or do farming, until the arrival of our forefathers that cleared the site.

The Bashar settled were people of Tarok from Kwanpe presence for day Langtang North were migrated and settled there and did their farming activities on the land, which eventually attracted other people and subsequently developed to its present status.

On seeing reasonable population and human activities taking place in the land, the Late Solomon Daushep Lar the first civilian Governor of Plateau State promoted brotherhood between t Bashar and Tarok to construct a road from Amper, Dengi, Jarmai to  Bashar for his beloved brothers created a presence chiefdom , built Secondary school, gave them Commissioner,Hon. Yakubu Idris, who was a diploma holder from Sokoto University, studied Islam and our great, great grandfather went to the then Rekna of Bashar (Umaru Damkam) and sought the chieftaincy title of Village Head of Gwaram.

The then Rekna granted the request and turbaned our great, great grandfather to the title of Village Head of Gwaram.

This is how our family got the chieftaincy title, and we continue to be very loyal to Bashar Emirate today

Since our village was recognized by the then‘Rekna of Bashar, we have been paying tax and Some other royalties and continue being loyal and have never encountered any problem with the Bashar Emirate even after the Wase 2002 crisis, we left the village for our safety as refugees, but upon cease-fire and reconciliation, we came back and went to the Rekna to notify him of our return, he welcomed us.

In the second crisis of 2013, too, we left for our safety, but later on, came back and went to the Rekna, he still embraced us and took us to our village.

We have never for once scorned or disobeyed the Bashar Emirate, and we are living.

Carefully in our community, neighbouring communities, and with everyone. For we know \ Ax responsibilities and the value of human being.

We accommodate all, accept all and together with everybody. But just a recent time, from an anonymous source, I heard that 1 Rekna of Bashar wants to turban someone from outside our lineage and community as that village head of Gwaram, that: is why one Alhaji Baiyu and Dahiru, all from Unguwan Masu came to our village and started raising a structure on the land of Sarkin Pyep Kantap (M, Tanko Gombe), that will be used as the palace.

This move will no doubt instigate disunity, mayhem, and unrest in our peaceful community). ‘+ ‘and Wase at large. For we consider it as a tactical approach to chasing us out of the land. we labored for long before it became habitable and gained recognition of its present status. 2 ‘However, we seek for due consideration of all the facts in ensuring peace, unity and ‘of our community. We all know, ‘that two heads in one community will be satanic dubious, taboo, and a threat to security.