There was confusion at the Taraba State Polytechnic matriculation ceremony yesterday, after students engaged in a freestyle skirmish, injuring each other during an ethnic clash.
According to reports, the 28-year-old academy organised registration a week ago at the academy’s campus located in Jalingo. However, the ceremony turns to blood amid clashes between the school’s Jukun and Kuteb students during a cultural showcase of the admitted.
Jukun is traditionally located in the states of Taraba, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Adamawa and Gombe States and in the north-western regions of Cameroon; on the other hand, the Kuteb (or Kutep) people are an ethnic group from West Africa who speak Kuteb, a Jukunoid language. The majority of Kutebs live in Taraba State.
The report said as many students and dignitaries arrived and the ceremony began, the predominantly student groups designated shelters where they and those around them stayed. During the occasion, instead of a cultural spectacle, the event turned bloody.
The Rector, in an interview, said that the school had suspended all cultural activities following the clash.
Checks revealed that although the student who attacked and injured the Kuteb student was arrested at the spot, he was released while the injured student was admitted at the Federal Medical Centre, Jalingo.
