From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi
The socio-cultural group in Benue State, Mzough U Tiv (MUT), has declared its full support for the Vice Chancellor of the University of Mkar, Prof Zacharys Gundu, over his statement that herdsmen were using Nasarawa State as a base to launch attacks on Benue communities.
The group issued this statement in response to a demand by Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, through his counsel, Ahmed Raji, SAN, for Prof Gundu to retract his allegation or face legal action.
Governor Sule had denied claims that herdsmen were using Nasarawa as a launching pad for attacks on Benue communities, describing the accusations as baseless.
The Tiv socio-cultural organisation told Governor Sule unequivocally that he cannot deny knowledge of armed herdsmen using Nasarawa as a platform to attack Benue communities.
In a statement signed by the President General of MUT, CP Iorbee Ihagh, and the Secretary General, Comrade Luther Iorbee, Ihagh stressed that the group stands in solidarity with Prof Gundu and the views he expressed.
Ihagh stated that Gundu’s remarks were “authentic and verifiable” and advised Governor Sule to either withdraw his intended lawsuit against Prof Gundu or include MUT in the suit.
Ihagh said, “We are specifically responding to the contents of the press conference with further clarifications. There is nothing defamatory or libellous in the context of the public presentation made by the erudite scholar Prof Zacharys Anger Gundu, because the public discourse is supported by perceived evidence of persistent insurgencies targeting Tiv indigenes of Nasarawa State, who are currently displaced into IDP camps in Benue State.
“These protracted attacks are mostly emboldened by claims of the Nasarawa State government taking over Tiv farmlands, particularly for project construction, that are instead reallocated to strangers.
“The issue of the state hosting insurgents is verifiable and in the public domain. It is a calamity that predates the Sule administration, which has raised regional and interstate concerns.
“Governor Sule has personally raised concerns about the presence of kidnappers’ dens in Nasarawa communities and called for Federal Government intervention to address them.
“He cannot, in any way, deny knowledge of their presence in a state they use as a base to attack surrounding states. This matter is available in various intelligence sources, both formal and informal, and has been corroborated by the Plateau and Kogi State governments, as well as socio-cultural organisations and civil society, such as Middle Belt organisations and local vigilante groups.
“Therefore, the views expressed by Prof Zacharys Anger Gundu remain authentic and verifiable in the public domain because the incessant invasions are recurring attacks specifically targeting Tiv communities, mostly on borderlines between Nasarawa and Benue States, where attackers retreat back to Nasarawa State.
“Some of the arrested criminals involved in the recent Yelewata attacks have revealed the identity of attackers from hideouts within Nasarawa State who are involved in the menace of massive killings and destruction of property.”
Ihagh further charged, “As the Chief Security Officer of the state, Governor Sule should seek peace and reconciliation rather than resorting to vain threats. This is not the path of defending the constitution and the people you swore to lead and serve, nor is it in the spirit of good leadership and neighbourliness with a tribe that honoured you with a chieftaincy title.
“Benue and Nasarawa States are brothers; they were once part of Plateau State before their creation.
“The Tiv people gave him a chieftaincy title, and now the Tiv people in Nasarawa are complaining that their land in Tunga and other communities, covering more than 7,000 hectares, has been taken from them without any form of compensation or relocation.
“It is not good for us to be at enmity, so I am urging the Governor to set aside the idea of going to court. The Governor even agreed that herdsmen were freely entering Nasarawa because of the non-enforcement of the Anti-Open Grazing Law.”
He added, “We (MUT) stand in solidarity with the views expressed by Prof Zacharys Gundu as the true position of the Tiv people worldwide and hereby express our willingness to be joined in the anticipated suit on your instructions. We believe his views were not directed at your person but at the office and institution of the Governor, as cited previously during former Governor Al-Makura’s tenure.
“We are not opposed to your right to take court action, which we believe will reveal the peculiar challenges the Tiv are facing under your supervision. We are very disturbed by the ongoing persecution of the Tiv people, who are your significant political support base in both your election and re-election but have suffered neglect and marginalisation throughout.
“Your refusal to integrate them into the mainstream of your administration, as your predecessors did, is a complete deviation from the sustainable equation.”
Ihagh also requested that “your Press Secretary be more civil in his public engagements on your behalf to safeguard your hard-earned reputation with the mandate you occupy as Governor of Nasarawa State.”
