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. Your Excellency, Mbalagh Council Ward of Makurdi Local Government Area which curiously shares boundary on the East with Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering (NASME) and 72 Special Forces Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Makurdi has been completed razed for about two years now. The Tiv villagers that own the council ward are taking refuge in Makurdi metropolis and the entire council ward, as we write, is grazing ground for Fulani herdsmen and their cattle. Their cattle have eaten up all the crops of the villagers. The herdsmen shoot and kill any Tiv man that dares to go to his village in search of food. The herdsmen have always boasted that since the villagers’ farms have always been the cause of conflict between they (the herdsmen) and Tiv farmers, they have resolved that the farmers will henceforth not cultivate their land nor plant any crops so that the issue of cattle destroying crops will not arise. Your Excellency, what sounded like an empty threat is already a reality as the residents of the council ward have not set foot on their ancestral home for two years now. Other council wards in Makurdi that have been partly burnt down by the invaders are Agan Council Ward, Modern Market Council Ward and Bar Council Ward. Your Excellency, as we write, The Makurdi-Naka Road, a road linking Makurdi, the Benue State capital with Gwer West Local Government of Benue State is currently impassible because of the Fulani siege. The herdsmen have burnt almost all the villages by that road and they block the road from time to time and attack and kill anybody unlucky enough to be using the road at the time. On 21st February, 2014, residents of Industrial Layout, bordering Mobile Police Barracks, Makurdi all deserted their homes following an attack launched by the invaders that night. It took several days for people to return to their homes. On the night of 27th February, 2014, a village close to Agan, a suburb of Makurdi which is less than 2 Kilometers from 72 Special Forces Battalion in Makurdi was attacked by Fulani herdsmen with hundreds of people running to Makurdi metropolis for safety that is not guaranteed. Your Excellency, the council wards of Sengev, Saav, Ucha, Ityough Atar in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State have all been burnt down and deserted with loss of lives and property. A large part of Logo Local Government has been affected. Most people from the three Local Governments of Makurdi, Guma and Gwer West have all ran to Makurdi for refuge and the herdsmen have threatened they will use bomb to finish Makurdi after pushing people from surrounding local governments therein. These threats cannot be dismissed with a wave of hand because the herdsmen are fast taking over the state like war lords used to conquer territories in medieval times. Your Excellency, these attacks happening in 21st century Nigeria regrettably bear the character of attacks in a stateless society in medieval times. How can Fulani invaders from the far North attack the village of the Paramount ruler of the Tiv Nation in Benue State for many hours without state intervention and failing to completely raze the village return again the next day to complete their task still without state intervention? Your Excellency, Benue State enjoys or is supposed to enjoy the presence of three military establishments and three paramilitary establishments. We have the 72 Special Forces Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering, NASME Barracks, The Tactical Air Command, of the Nigerian Air Force, Makurdi, Zone 4 Headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force, a Mobile Police Squadron and Benue State Police Command Headquarters all in Makurdi. But regrettably, Your Excellency, Mbagwen Community of Makurdi Local Government Area sharing common boundary with NASME Barracks and 72 Special Forces Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Makurdi have deserted their homes and farms for over two years now. Their council ward is now grazing land for Fulani nomads who go about brazenly with their AK 47 guns hung around their shoulders with which they kill any Tiv man that dares to go from Makurdi Metropolis to the villages constituting the council ward. Adaka Village in Makurdi Local Government Area where the Fulani herdsmen attacked several times in February, 2014 for several hours from day to day burning most houses therein is about 2 Kilometres from the Mobile Police Barracks, Makurdi, about 5 kilometers from the State Headquarters of the Nigeria Police, about 7 kilometers from Air Force Base, Makurdi, about 7 kilometers from NASME Barracks and about 8 Kilometers from 72 Special Forces Battalion, Makurdi. While we appreciate the security agencies for sometimes showing up at crisis points, it is our view that their efforts still leave much to be desired. The intervention of security agencies has also left us with some stories of some personnel conspiring and collaborating with the Fulani herdsmen to perpetrate the violence against Tiv people. At some point in the course of this crisis, the two Commanding officers of NASME Barracks, Makurdi and 72 Special Forces Battalion, Makurdi were Fulanis and there was serious concerns of bias in the intervention of the military. For instance Suit No. FHC/MKD/CS/55/2013 Between Grace Igbavenda & 4 Ors v Nigerian Army & 4 Ors is ongoing at the Federal High Court Makurdi wherein five widows have sued the Nigerian Army, the Chief of Army Staff, the Commanding Officer of 72 Special Forces Battalion, one Staff Sergeant Auta Mohammed and the Attorney General of the Federation for complicity in the murder of their five husbands by Fulani herdsmen. The plaintiffs’ story is that Staff Sergeant Auta Mohammed led a team of 6 soldiers to accompany 34 Tiv Youths from Imande Dem, Guma Local Government Area to search for bodies of two Tiv youths earlier killed by Fulani herdsmen and there in the bush, got 33 of the youths squatted in the grasses at some point and advanced with one of the youths when suddenly some Fulani herdsmen emerged and opened fire on the unarmed 33 youths killing 5 as the soldiers squatted in the grass and kept mute while the attack lasted. The soldiers were even said to have driven away youths that ran towards them for refuge asking them to go and fight their battle. The Chief of Army Staff was earlier petitioned to cause an investigation into this incident and he did but the report is still being awaited. There are stories of Fulani herdsmen attacking Tiv villages for several hours from day to day without any intervention by the police or the Army but once the Fulani’s are affected, the Army and Police move swiftly to arrest Tiv people indiscriminately and have them locked up. A good example is the incident leading to Case No.MCM/109C1/2011 between Commissioner of Police Benue State v Yandev Uker & 14 Ors at Chief Magistrate’s Court 1 Makurdi which was only struck out on 6/2/2014 for lack of diligent prosecution. The claim of the accused persons in that case is that they the people of Mbagwen Village, directly behind NASME Barracks, Makurdi and very close to 72 Special Forces battalion Makurdi were being pillaged by Fulani herdsmen on daily basis sometime in 2011 without any intervention despite the fact that women and children were trekking past NASME Barracks and flooding Makurdi town as ‘refugees’ in their own land. But on 12/11/2011, a Fulani man had cause to believe that some Tiv persons ambushed and attempted to kill his son and rather than reporting the incident to the police went and reported the matter to the Commanding Officer of 72 Special Forces Battalion then and the Commanding Officer promptly dispatched a team of soldiers in a truck and the soldiers stationed themselves at Zongo Akiki, a village market square and arrested the unlucky 15 Tiv youths who happened to pass by at that time. The 15 youths were tortured severely and detained at 72 Special Forces Battalion for three days before they were handed over to the police at the Police Headquarters Makurdi by one Major F.U. Abubakar from where they were arraigned in court. On 12/11/2011, Tiv people who were fleeing from the attacks of Fulanis and the Arago and foreign collaborators were caught in broad daylight by some soldiers from 72 Special Forces Battalion at Zongo Akiki along NASME Makurdi-Yogbo road and the soldiers had the beard of the men burnt while the toe nails and finger nails of the women were burnt with glowing polythene material. Following consistent attacks by Fulani herdsmen, the displaced people of Ngban in Guma Local Government Area dissatisfied with the commitment of government to stemming the tide, on 10th April, 2013 staged a peaceful protest with the knowledge of the Commissioner of Police Benue State under the watchful eyes of men of the Police Force when suddenly a team of soldiers from 72 Special Forces Battalion swooped on the peaceful and orderly protesters killing three youths and dispersing the protesters. Very Rev. Fr. Christopher Utov, a top clergy man in Benue State was an eyewitness as he was also part of the protest. Your Excellency, taking a lesson from the antecedents of state security forces in their intervention in the ongoing crisis, our people flee any town as soon as they notice the presence of the Army. As we write, Gbajimba, the headquarters of Guma Local Government Area is experiencing mass exodus following the arrival of some Army personnel who came in through the River Benue. All the schools have closed and everybody is running for his life because of the arrival of the soldiers. The reasons are not far-fetched. The presence of the Army has consistently been a prelude to the takeover of our villages and towns by the Fulani herdsmen. The soldiers on arrival of a town would give the inhabitants an impression that they are secured only to ease out and allow the Fulani to overrun the town. In the case of Gbajimba that is now being deserted, the soldiers on arrival rather than going to confront the Fulani herdsmen and their hired mercenaries at Torkula, a few kilometers from Gbajimba where the invaders have “captured” and established their camp, have resorted to harassing the youths of Gbajimba and accusing them of belonging to militia. The Fulani herdsmen who before now were afraid of coming close to Gbajimba now feel free to graze their cattle from Torkula, their stronghold, to Gbajimba and the soldiers have not bothered to ask them where their militia is stationed. The villagers have read the handwriting on the wall and are leaving the town for men of the Nigerian Army and the Fulanis. The Army has not gone to Torkula to confront the invaders that have taken over the place. The day Torkula was taken, the soldiers and mobile police men in over 10 vehicles went to the area but stationed themselves at Kaseyo, few kilometers from Torkula but failed to go to Torkula to confront the invaders. A few days after that, Kaseyo was burnt down and now they have moved to Gbajimba which is still standing to probably do the groundwork for its capture by the invaders. Your Excellency, we the Tiv people are facing grave provocation and need to be reassured that we are still part of the social contract called Nigeria. A situation where Fulanis from the far North will come and kill people and displace everybody and occupy our villages just behind two Nigerian Army barracks in Makurdi leaves us with the question of whether we are in a stateless society that existed prior to the advent of colonialism. A situation where Fulani nomads will attack and burn down the house and village of the Tor Tiv, HRH Dr. Alfred Akawe Torkula, and other prominent Tiv sons like Hon. Samuel Ortom, Minister of State for Trade and Investment and Supervising Minister of Aviation, Hon. Emmanuel Jime of the House of Representative and a host of others is not acceptable to us. A situation where entire council wards in Tiv land have been deserted and countless schools and churches therein have been closed down as a result of the attacks of Fulani herdsmen and their hired mercenaries is most regrettable. A situation where Fulani herders from the far North can parade our villages in Benue State freely and occupy the houses deserted by our people in Benue State would better had been some fairy tale rather than the grim reality we are currently facing. We have thousands of Tiv farmers in Yoruba land who obtain permission from their Yoruba hosts before engaging in farming activities. They neither carry guns nor compel Yorubas to surrender their land to them. The opposite is the case with Fulani herdsmen currently in Benue State. While we are aware of the Fundamental Rights of all Nigerians to live and work anywhere in the country, we maintain that the Constitution does not give any ethic group in Nigeria the power to kill and displace people of another ethnic group and take over their land. Your Excellency, following the burning of Tor Tiv’s village on 17 February, 2014, the crisis has assumed a most worrisome dimension as surrounding villages in Guma Local Government Area of the state are fleeing to Makurdi the state capital for refuge. There is also a report that the Fulani and the Alago people of Nasarawa State have asked all Tiv people in Nasarawa to vacate their homes and this has heightened the drift of Tiv people living in Nasarawa to Makurdi. There is urgent need for you to intervene and restore peace to the affected areas. While Section 14(1) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) has provided that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary responsibility of Government, our experience is that we have been left to secure our lives in the wake of gruesome and provocative attacks that look like a well organized and remotely sponsored and controlled agenda of genocide on the Tiv people and annexation of our land. Your Excellency, it is out of respect for the Fulani people who along with the Hausa constitute a major ethnic group in Nigeria that we are slow to call these Fulani herdsmen terrorists. Their acts are purely those of terrorists. They are familiar with the bush so they camp there, heavily armed, and spring up guerrilla attacks on unsuspecting Tiv villagers. Before the army or police are mobilized to the scene, they disappear into thin air. There are strong indications that some of them are not Nigerians but hired terrorists from neighbouring African countries. These invaders can however be tracked because they have their cattle with them. They also have camps in various places in our land. Their entry points into Benue State are the four local Governments of Nasarawa State on the boundary with Benue State namely, Awe, Doma, Keana and Obi. The Alago collaboration is the reason for their success so far. Benue also borders with Taraba State and Fulanis are also in Taraba State but we do not have the challenge that local governments bordering Nasarawa State are facing. Your Excellency, Tiv youths do not want to take laws into their hands. Fulani and Alago are still going about freely without molestation in Makurdi and elsewhere in Benue State while their kit and kin are in the bush terrorizing our villages. It appears, Your Excellency, these attacks which have similarities with those perpetrated by the same Fulani militia in Jos are geared towards destabilizing Benue State and the entire Middle Belt and this is the reason we think these crises should become a serious security concern to your government. We most respectfully wish to draw the attention of your Excellency to the statement of Alhaji Sale Bayari, National Secretary, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in an interview with Tajudeen Suleiman captioned ‘The Cattle Mean More to the Fulani’ in Tell Magazine No. 47 of November 26, 2012 at page 51. In the said interview, Alhaji Sale Bayari answering a question on why the Fulani’s are perceived to be naturally aggressive said “This is a hostile environment in which the Fulani man lives. You have to be as hostile as your environment for you to survive. There must be a balance of terror for you to survive in the jungle. The Fulani herdsman is a man that believes the entire world is after him and what he has. He believes he has to arm himself to the teeth…’ (Underlining ours for emphasis). Alhaji Bayari in the same interview while answering to allegations of Fulani attacking farming communities aided by hired mercenaries said, “He (the Fulani man) has found himself in a situation whereby if he does not pay somebody to take care of his enemies, the enemy will kill him and take over his property” (Underlining ours for emphasis). The same Alhaji Sale Bayari in his capacity as the Sultan of Sokoto’s nominee in the Fulani Cattle Rearers and Tiv Farmers Conflict Resolution Committee which was involved in mediating peace between the groups before the current escalation of violence said in an another interview captioned “Fulanis can’t be Stopped from Grazing in Benue Areas – Miyetti Allah” on page 14 of the Daily Trust of November, 25, 2011, that “But for people to say that they are taking law into their hands the way the Tivs and the Fulanis are doing now, the Fulanis will say that they must go into Benue State because the state is part of Nigeria and they have the right to traverse through Benue State like any other state in Nigeria.” (Underlining ours for emphasis). Such statements from a Fulani man of the standing of Alhaji Sale Bayari about the need for “a balance of terror” to survive as a Fulani man; “the Fulanis will say that they must go into Benue State” and the necessity of the Fulani man to “… pay somebody to take care of his enemies…” are confirmation of the allegations by our people that the Fulani herdsmen have hired mercenaries within and outside Nigeria in their onslaught against the Tiv people and that they have the backing of such organizations like the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and perhaps, larger and stronger institutions and bodies within and outside the country. The sponsorship of these Fulani herdsmen needs to be investigated so that persons or organizations behind it will be called to order. We humbly urge you to intervene and take steps to stem the tide. We humbly suggest that the following line of action will be needful: • The setting up of a Joint Federal Security Task Force comprising none biased security personnel to patrol the affected areas in Nassarawa and Benue States to arrest and prosecute the Fulani herdsmen and/or terrorists. • Getting the two Governors of Benue State and Nasarawa State more committed to putting an end to the crises. • Getting the Paramount Rulers of Fulani, Alago and Tiv ethnic groups to cooperate in efforts against this invasion. • Setting up a Panel of enquiry to investigate allegation of the Army and Police conniving with Fulani and their hired mercenaries in the attacks of Tiv villages and reprimand all Army and Police personnel that may be found wanting in this regard. • Provision of relief materials for the thousands that have been displaced while efforts to secure their return to their homes last. • Assisting the victims with funds to rebuild their burnt homes. The above suggestions, Sir, represent our humble opinion as to what might be done to restore peace in the troubled areas. It will be important afterwards to address the issue of Fulani herdsmen cohabiting with Tiv peasants; this is obviously a cohabitation of two groups of people with incompatible careers – subsistent agriculture and cattle breeding. There will be need for herders in agrarian areas like Benue State to build ranches as is done in the developed world to avoid the loss of lives and property due to conflicts that are a necessary fall out of such incompatible marriage. We will also appreciate if the Military will be mindful of the lingering Tiv/Fulani crisis in Benue State in appointing Commanding Officers of 72 Special Forces Battalion, Makurdi, and Nigerian Army School of Military Engineering, Makurdi. A situation where the Fulani herders are at war with Tiv farmers in Benue State and the two barracks in Makurdi from where forces are drawn to keep the peace among the two groups are headed by Fulanis or core northerners leaves ample room for bias. As lawyers say, justice should not only be done, it should be seen to have been done. Your Excellency, when we the people of Benue State voted massively for you in the 2011 election that brought you to power as the Head of State and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Federal Republic of Nigeria, we did not envisage that we would at any giving time be forced to surrender ourselves to death that is avoidable at your instance as President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of our dear country. We hope you will act timely, Sir, so that it does not get to a stage where doctors, lawyers, engineers and all manner of professionals of Tiv extraction will have no option but to abandon their various careers to form militias to defend themselves from the forces plotting their extinction. We the undersigned humbly make this appeal to you for ourselves and on behalf of all members of Ayatutu Congress especially those that have lost their loved ones and have been turned ‘refugees’ in their land. Yours faithfully,
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 10:38:59 +0000
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