July 08, (THEWILL) — Piqued by the continuous gruesome killing of innocent Benue citizens, the Paramount Ruler of the Tiv nation, Prof. James Iorzua Ayatse, has called on the International Community to intervene and save the poor Benue farmers from what he referred to as genocidal invasion and land grabbing by terrorists and their sponsors.
Consequently, he advocated for the need to establish the Benue-Nasarawa-Taraba (BENATA) Forum to meet frequently and discuss effective approaches that can restore permanent solutions to the unabated crises that have ravaged the Benue Valley.
Speaking at two separate workshops organised by the Benue State Commission for Peace and Reconciliation and GoGreen Environmental Health Sustainability Initiatives at Gboko and Makurdi, the Tor Tiv regretted that the genocide has overwhelmed the Nigerian security agencies under whose watch the sponsored terrorists recklessly butcher the unarmed people.
The Tor Tiv, who is also the Chairman of Benue State Council of Traditional Rulers, insisted that the horrible security challenge in Benue can only be addressed by the intervention of the International Community since it defied all local solutions through peaceful meetings.
He rejected the call to dialogue with the terrorists for amicable resolution and wondered how it is possible to talk with people who come out suddenly with sophisticated weapons from nowhere and kill, rape and disappear, saying the situation is beyond dialogue and negotiations.
He lauded the organisers of the workshops and expressed the hope that the workshops would produce fruitful results, even as he charged the participants to pay keen attention to the speakers to enable them to apply what they had learned in their various communities.
Similarly, the Begha- U-Tiv advocated for the formation of Benue-Nasarawa-Taraba BENATA) Forum to meet regularly for interaction to achieve the desired peace in the Benue Valley, which, according to him, the three states share a common history and boundaries.
“The crisis in the Benue Valley revolves around natural resources, which include land and water, and can be resolved through agreements and proper demarcation of boundaries”, he stated.
