AN OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN APPEALING FOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION IN THE ONGOING ATTACKS ON TIV PEOPLE IN NASSARAWA AND BENUE STATES AND ANNEXATION OF OUR LAND BY ARMED FULANI HERDSMEN AND HIRED MERCENARIES FROM NASARAWA AND OTHER NORTHERN STATES AND NEIGHBOURING AFRICAN COUNTRIES It is with heaviness of heart that we the members of Ayatutu Congress, a socio-cultural group in Tiv Land, write to appeal for your intervention in the ongoing attacks on Tiv people in Nasarawa and Benue States and annexation of our land by Fulani herdsmen and hired mercenaries from Nasarawa State, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, etc. Your Excellency, the Tiv people who are predominantly farmers in the past have had series of conflicts with Fulani herdsmen, the Jukun and other tribes as fallout of competition for farm land. These crises used to occur mostly among the Tiv people living in Taraba and Nasarawa States and they usually stopped at the border towns of Benue State with Nassarawa and Taraba States. The ongoing onslaught against the Tiv by the Fulani nomads has however assumed the dimension of a planned systematic ethnic cleansing and annexation of Tiv land. The current crisis started sometime in 2009 with Fulani nomads clashing with Tiv villagers as a result of disputes that are natural with the cohabitation of nomads and farmers. Stories of Fulani herdsmen killing a farmer who challenged them upon the destruction of his farm by the nomads’ cattle in some secluded place and reappraisal attacks by the Tiv farmers were common. These attacks were sustained and grew in intensity, scope and sophistication from 2009 until now that they appear to be a well scripted stage-by-stage agenda of ethnic cleansing and annexation of Tiv land. The current attacks on the Tiv nation are perpetrated by Fulani herdsmen in collaboration with hired mercenaries from Alago ethnic group in Nasarawa State as well as mercenaries from other northern states and neighbouring Afican countries. The attackers who number between 300 to 500 are usually heavily armed and sometime have bullet proof vests and head gears. At the beginning of the crisis, the attackers used to come in Hilux vans between 4am and 6am to unleash mayhem on unsuspecting villagers and disappear into thin air. Currently, they have “captured” part of our land and have established their camps at several places from where they launch attacks to conquer more ground. The attacks started in Nasarawa State in villages like Antsa, Dooga Ayande, Tse Tyikwa on the West of Kadarko, Giza Development Area of Nasarawa State pushing out Tiv people from their ancestral homes and occupying their land. A greater number of Tiv people have vacated their homes in Obi, Keana, Doma and Awe Local Government Areas of Nasarawa State and are now seeking shelter in some parts of Benue State. Others are helplessly stranded. More worrisome, Your Excellency, is the fact that the invaders have followed the Tiv People into Benue State staging guerrilla attacks, killing and maiming people, displacing others, raping women, destroying farms, burning homes and occupying the vacated land. The Local Governments in Tiv Land in Benue State affected include Guma, Gwer West, Logo and Makurdi, the State capital. In Guma Local Government Area, 4 council wards namely, Mbabai, Nyev, Mbadwem, and Mbayer Yandev have completely been razed and the inhabitants have deserted the council wards which are now free grazing areas for the well armed Fulani herdsmen. Torkula, the village of the Paramount Ruler of the Tiv Nation, HRH Dr. Alfred Akawe Torkula in Mbadwem Council Ward of Guma Local Government Area was completely razed in the attacks of 17th and 18th February, 2014 which resulted to the death of 7 persons. Other council wards in Guma Local Government Area partly burnt down by the Fulani invaders and deserted by our people are Uvir and Nzorov. Your Excellency, all villages after Gbajimba, the headquarters of Guma Local Government Area up to Awe Local Government Area of Nasarawa State have been razed down and only fully armed Fulani and Alago and their foreign mercenaries are competent to live and walk freely in the area
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 09:56:03 +0000
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