{"id":166689,"date":"2025-06-12T21:41:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T20:41:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/youths-defend-district-chief-in-taraba-church-dispute"},"modified":"2025-06-12T22:48:59","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T21:48:59","slug":"youths-defend-district-chief-in-taraba-church-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/youths-defend-district-chief-in-taraba-church-dispute","title":{"rendered":"Youths Defend District Chief in Taraba Church Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Wablau Youth Development Association in Taraba State has refuted recent social media allegations linking its members and District Chief Prince Bairik Augustine Njenmang to an alleged attack on worshippers at a church in the Kofai area of Jalingo metropolis.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement jointly signed by the association\u2019s chairman, Martin Joseph Yani, and the secretary, Ayaukani Pius Jauro, copies of which were made available to journalists on Friday, the association described the claims as \u201cmalicious and unfounded\u201d, calling them a calculated attempt to smear the district chief and disrupt peace efforts in the area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese allegations are entirely false, the product of either ignorance or deliberate intent to incite discord,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n<p>The controversy stems from a conflict between two religious factions: the United Methodist Church in Nigeria, UMCN and the Global Methodist Church in Nigeria, GMCN.<\/p>\n<p>According to the association, the district chief was present at the scene not as an instigator but as a mediator, whom they said was going about calming tensions after one of the churches was reportedly found to have violated a government directive suspending all church activities pending an investigation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe District Chief\u2019s role throughout was that of a peacemaker and custodian of lawful order. The notion that he mobilised thugs is not only false and irresponsible but also defies logic and his well-known track record of peacebuilding,\u201d the group emphasised.<\/p>\n<p>While the GMCN itself has not formally accused the Wablau community or its leadership, the association pointed to online narratives and individuals aligned with the faction as the likely sources of the damaging claims.<\/p>\n<p>Describing the allegations as part of a \u201ccoordinated smear campaign,\u201d the youth group warned that any future defamation would be met with legal and civil action.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will not allow our name to be dragged through the mud by agents of disunity,\u201d the statement declared.<\/p>\n<p>The association called on the public to disregard the rumours and remain focused on preserving peace and community harmony in the area.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. The Wablau Youth Development Association in Taraba State has refuted recent social media allegations linking its members and District Chief Prince Bairik Augustine Njenmang to an alleged attack on worshippers at a church in the Kofai area of Jalingo metropolis. In a statement jointly signed by the association\u2019s chairman, Martin Joseph Yani, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":166688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,30],"tags":[254,3685],"class_list":["post-166689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-nigeria","tag-taraba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Youths Defend District Chief in Taraba Church Dispute - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Wablau Youth Development Association in Taraba State has refuted recent social media allegations linking its members ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/youths-defend-district-chief-in-taraba-church-dispute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Youths Defend District Chief in Taraba Church Dispute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Wablau Youth Development Association in Taraba State has refuted recent social media allegations linking its members ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/youths-defend-district-chief-in-taraba-church-dispute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-12T20:41:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-12T21:48:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/sm_1749752388.99836.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/youths-defend-district-chief-in-taraba-church-dispute#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/youths-defend-district-chief-in-taraba-church-dispute\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Youths Defend District Chief in Taraba Church Dispute\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-12T20:41:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-12T21:48:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/youths-defend-district-chief-in-taraba-church-dispute\"},\"wordCount\":351,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/youths-defend-district-chief-in-taraba-church-dispute#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/06\/sm_1749752388.99836.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\",\"taraba\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/youths-defend-district-chief-in-taraba-church-dispute#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/youths-defend-district-chief-in-taraba-church-dispute\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/all-news\/youths-defend-district-chief-in-taraba-church-dispute\",\"name\":\"Youths Defend District Chief in Taraba Church Dispute - 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