June 18, (THEWILL) – A body under the aegis of Takuluku Anyam Azenga Advocacy Organisation (TAAAO) has alleged that Governor Abdullahi Sule’s exclusion of the Tiv people of Nasarawa from his administration has contributed to insecurity in Benue State.
According to the group, the systematic displacement of Tiv people of Nasarawa under whatever guise has forced them to scamper and take refuge with their neighbouring kith and kin, Tiv communities in Benue State, over the years.
At a news conference in Makurdi on Tuesday, Convener of the group, Dr Bem Ugoh, alleged that before Governor Sule was elected into office, the past administrations were appointing indigenous Tiv people into the Nasarawa State Executive Council.
“It is very unfortunate that in Governor Abdullahi Sule’s first and second term in office, he refused to include Tiv people in his administration”, Dr Ugoh alleged.
He noted that the Tiv population has endured terrible calamities and cumulative losses that are currently heightened by occupational raids, masterminded by exploitative economic cartels with a desperation to explore and control the richly endowed productive factors of the domestic economy.
“We condemn in very strong terms, the intensified attacks and displacement of Tiv natives in their ancestral homes, which is largely peculiar to the Tiv communities, particularly the extended onslaught on Nasarawa Tiv communities currently facing the same existential threats and displacement”, the group alleged.
While resolving to pursue justice and resist any further threat undermining their legitimate livelihood, the group, therefore, called on the Federal Government to urgently wade into what it described as artificial, ill-motivated persecution of the native Tiv farmers with indigenous rights and privileges.
“We seek a proper integration of the Tiv people in the political administration of Nasarawa state as has been the practice since its creation in 1997”, it started.
The group further noted that persisting challenges bedevilling the Tiv people in particular and Benue State in general are beyond mere political rhetoric as they pose real challenges to human lives and survival of the people, saying the future of the next and unborn generations will be guaranteed only with the sacrifices made today.
It acknowledged the role of the federal and state governments in their serial efforts to mitigate some of the challenges; however, worried about the delayed responses and conflicting official responses.
It, therefore, urged Benue State governor, Revd Fr Hyacinth Alia, to engage his counterparts in neighbouring states for an interstate security outfit for surveillance and defence in conflict areas, border lines and flashpoints.
It equally called on the Federal Government to strengthen law enforcement agencies for the implementation of the Anti-Open Grazing Prohibition law, organisations and individuals to support survivors of the attacks, urging the national assembly to constitute a high-power team to investigate the persistent existential threats against the Tiv people of North Central Nigeria.
