A district head in Taraba State, Augustine Vikani, has ordered the suspension of sales of ‘burukutu’, a local liquor, in markets within his Chiefdom.
Vikani is the district head of Kofai Chiefdom in the Ardo Kola local government area of the state.
He announced the development on Monday while addressing newsmen. He averred that the suspension became imperative in light of the current security crisis in the area.
He added that the security measure will forestall any further bomb blasts within the community.
The monarch said youths and elders in the community were consulted before the decision was taken, seeing as Mondays are strategic days which hosted the popular ‘kasuwan bera’ market
He said that the community had already complied with the directives, adding that the youths and security personnel were on hand to enforce the suspension order.
“The two bomb blasts that occurred recently had affected the two local markets, Iware and Nukkai neighbouring ours here.
“And that informed our collective decision to suspend the public sale of the local beer, burukutu, especially inside our markets.
“This measure was taken to control crowd, especially as the two recent blasts occurred within drinking joints and today marked the hosting of one of our popular markets,” he said.
While commending the government for boosting the community with more security, Mr Vikani appealed to the government at all levels to step up more proactive measures in preventing such dastardly occurrences.
A correspondent who visited the Kasuwan Bera market reports the heavy presence of police personnel controlling the crowd.