The Taraba State Government has cleared the air over reports making the rounds that the post-election violence which recently engulfed Jalingo the State capital was a state-sponsored affair.
In a press briefing at Government House, Jalingo, the State Commissioner of Information and Culture, Rt. Hon. Simon Dogari told Journalists that the State Government was aware of the cowardly act by those who had lost elections to employ every means to cause chaos in the State.
He revealed that their intention was to create tension and anarchy in Jalingo and in the entire State such that the impression would be created in and outside Taraba that the election was not credible.
Hon. Dogari disclosed that one of the major contestants in the gubernatorial election, Hajiya Aisha Alhassan, rated the election as free, fair and credible, even though she lost.
He therefore bemoaned the situation created by another opposition group in organizing armed youths to confront people who came out in their numbers to celebrate the PDP victory.
Hon Dogari stressed the fact that the unfortunate and dangerous dimension to this chaos was the religious colour the group tried to assign to the crisis, wondering why a man who was aspiring for a high position of leadership in the state would resort to religious bigotry in order to achieve his ambition.
Accordingly, he noted that the relative peace that was gradually returning to Jalingo was a testament to the mantra of Government to ensure peace and security for all and sundry.
He therefore urge citizens to go about their lawful businesses without fear as security agencies were on top of the unfortunate situation.