| What Resolution to this Petition? |
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| Thursday, 16 March 2006 | |||||||||||||||||||
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culled from http://www.ayatutu.org/ THE TIV ETHNIC CLEANSING AGENDA, FROM LORD LUGARD TO PRESIDENT OBASANJO . "Let us not forget that violence does not exist by itself and cannot do so; it is necessary interwoven with lies. Violence finds its only refuge in falsehood, falsehood its only support in violence. Any man who has once acclaimed violence as his method must inexorably choose falsehood as his principle. " My main aim here is to argue that the violence that had sporadically existed before, but now assumes full offensive status, between the Tiv and their neighbours, does not derive its roots from the settler non-settler syndrome. Rather I intend to prove that the escalation of ethnic violence against the Tiv in Nassarawa and Taraba States, is derived primarily from long standing politically motivated ethnic cleansing of the Tiv people as a result of an engineered re-birth of a long since dead Kororofa Empire by the Colonial Administration, under Lord Lugard. This Kororofa risorgimento, has now given rise to a new brand of fascism, (kororofascism) promoted by President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration characterised by the military invasion and killing of innocent civilians and refusal to entertain dialogue with the victims. The Nassarawa violence against the Tiv is merely an overflow from the Taraba Theatre of violence that has evolved over time to become today the lighting rod of hatred and rage whose fury has enveloped the region, and its corruptive propensity has like a pandemic, become an emotional Aids, infecting every Nigerian and dragging us in its wake to take sides. I am Tiv of Shitile clan, whose boundary was whimsically drawn since the colonial days, to straddle Benue and Taraba States. My kith and kin have not migrated into either Benue or Taraba. We have lived where we are, long before British colonialism and before successive state creation exercises. Part of my clan is in Benue and the larger part in Taraba today. I have been in politics, but also have been and for much longer, an intellectual. Recently the Tiv people met in Gboko, on 30th September 2001, and appointed me Secretary of the Tiv Committee on Conflict Resolution. I lost a very very, dear brother, Anbu Wende barely two weeks after, at Zaki-Biam, where he took his daughter to school. The bullets of the Nigerian army bought with taxpayers money, took away, his God given life at a tender age. I grew up at Zaki-Biam, a town with over 50,000 people. Zaki-Biam soil has nourished me from childhood. The death of soldiers at Zaki-Biam, and the murder of Zaki-Biam, Gbeji, Anyiin, Adoor, Vaase, and many other towns and villages in Benue State, where I grew, has massively shocked me, especially under a civilian, and supposedly enlightened leadership. I am shocked at the great propensity of mankind to be evil; massively evil and to delight in killing his kind, not for any profit to himself, but merely to show his supremacy in his capacity to destroy human life, which he is incapable of giving. As a Christian, I also believe that human nature is not evil. God created man in his image and in spite of his fall, human nature desires love, not hate, and harmony rather than conflict. The crises which have turned Taraba State and Eastern Benue State into killing fields and a cauldron of hatred and rage is a result of collective leadership failure where the people of Nigeria allowed evil forces, in our midst to take over our right to think and act rationally. In this paper I assert my intellectual right to be rational, and also to be frank. I choose to speak for those with no mouths, no eyes and no ears. I speak for all the dead, who have been consumed by this holocaust. When President Olusegun Obasanjo met with the Governors of Benue, Taraba Nassarawa and Plateau states on 11th November, I was there. The President identified all the four States, as states, having intra and inter-state conflicts. The President identified four areas, which he wanted as the agenda of that meeting and another zonal conference of the Middle-Belt to hold in December to resolve the crisis. His agenda as given by the President himself is as follows: 1. How can we resolve the crisis of identity involving indigenes and settlers? Before the creation of 12 States, the question of settlers didn't arise? We thank the President for this agenda, but even more significantly, we thank the President for setting up the Judicial Commission of Enquiring to look into the crises. We hope that when the Judicial Commission sits, it will be able to unravel the remote and immediate causes for the crisis and then provide the basis for addressing the injustices meted out to the Tiv in Nigeria. The butcheries of Lord Lugard have since then, continued unabated, each day, and it appears, the present democratic regime of President Obasanjo has unwittingly joined the policy of ethnic cleansing against the Tiv. But the settler or non-settler is clearly the non-issue here. Everybody in Nigeria migrated from somewhere else. We are all settlers. The issue of the Tiv in Taraba State, where they have lived for centuries, is not the issue of settler or non-settler. The settler, non-settler syndrome being exhumed from the dead imagination of tribal irredentists is fallacious and a mere diversional; away from the deep rooted campaign of hatred and the agenda of genocide, which now rules in the heart of the Jukun elite in Taraba and overflows to Nassarawa State. The Tiv in Taraba and Nassarawa and those on adjourning boundaries, are the targets. The irrelevance of the President's agenda for resolving the conflict between the Tiv and their neighbour is easily exposed when one realises that the constitution guarantees citizenship rights to all Nigerians. Even if the Tiv had been settlers in their ancestral lands in Taraba and Nassarawa State, they deserve protection of their life and property, as enshrined in the constitution of our country. Certainly not to be callously ignored while a tacit approval for their elimination flourishes unchecked. The issue of settler and indigene syndrome must be settled now once and for all lest more lives are lost. To settle the matter, we need to ask ourselves the types of democracy we are practising that confers citizenship rights at the Federal level but denies most Nigerians participation where they engage in economic activity at the state level. The issue is beyond politics, and posturing. Let the President and the National Assembly enact a law now to settle the issue once and for all. Let Nigerians know how many hundreds of years they may stay in a particular place before they qualify to be indegene. As for the Tiv of Taraba and Nasarawa States, they had co-existed in Lafia and Wukari divisions, before Independence, under Native Laws and Customs there. By this simple fact they the Jukuns and the Lafia peoples admitted that they were indigenes as the Laws that applied to the Jukuns, Kamberi and others equally applied to the Tiv. How can they now become settlers through anybody's whimsical imagination, and caprice? How the President and the National Assembly handles this cannot however deny the Tiv in Nasarawa and Taraba indigeneship status, without denying the rest of Nigerians. Another agenda pursued by President Obasanjo, is the issue of the retired soldiers that are to be made, to REFRAIN from waging war against the State. In his earlier pronouncements President Obasanjo, and at least of one of his ministers, a Minister of Defence, said that, retired Tiv Generals, were recruiting and training a militia being funded by Governor George Akume, and had declared war against the Nigerian state! It is with this Presidential mind-set, that one can place in perspective, the refusal by the President to act on all reports that the army in Taraba was fighting along-side the Jukuns against the Tiv in Taraba State. It is equally due to this mind-set that a Presidential approval of a covert operation, code-named "Operation Thunder" was to deal with the Tiv people for "waging war against the State", was probably obtained. In all this, the Governor of Benue became a lame duck. President Obasanjo, has barely hidden his sentence on the elected Governor George Akume as the Chief Sponsor of the Tiv militia, which is trying to topple his government. It is in this context that one understands why; Akume was enticed into requesting for military presence in Benue State, when he had complained of military brutalities against his people. President Obasanjo has vehemently denied the Tiv massacre, and instead blamed George Akume for inviting the Army, when it is clear that the massacre in Benue by the Nigerian Army was done by the Army in Taraba working alongside the Jukuns. He has accused the Governor in the United States and in the United Kingdom. Yet, it is the same government that made Governor George Akume to apologise, inspite of the incongruous circumstances. The apology only served to confirm the "guilt," of Benue people, trying to undermine the President - hence the genocide. It seems reasonable to conclude, that the President had acted on advise from his military security adviser, including the Minister of Defence who had felt confident enough with his "security/rumours report", to accuse Akume of funding the Tiv militia. It is in this context, that one understands the import of ordering the Governor and the Tiv community leaders, to produce the body of slain soldiers and those responsible for killing them; the elected Governor and the Tiv people, victims as they were; were now being blamed, and set up for the massacre. Contrary evidence has shown that the "soldiers" were not in Benue on legitimate "peace-keeping" Operations. Nations don't use their own soldiers for "peace-keeping". This is done by foreign soldiers as has been undertaken by Nigeria under the United Nations and ECOMOG. What Nigeria operates is an internal security operation exercise that has specific operational guidelines. This was not done, and the poor hapless soldiers were sent on an illegitimate assignment! There is ample evidence that the Police were in a better position to find the culprits and murderers than the Governor, Ter Ukum, and the Ukum Local Government Chairman. It becomes logical to conclude, that the Benue Massacre was the desperate handiwork of the Commander-in-Chief himself! If the President was convinced as the Minister of defence obviously was, that Governor George Akume and other Tiv retired Generals and elite were responsible for treasonable acts against the State, why couldn't the security forces, follow the due process and had them arraigned before appropriate institutions of justice? Was it not better to have arrested the retired Generals and Governor George Akume, than that hundreds of hapless civilian voters, including women and children become victims, incinerated by the Nigerian Army? It is necessary at this point therefore to work out an alternate agenda for the Presidents' Conference, if the Conference is considered more expedient than the immediate cessation of all hostilities, the return of refugees to Taraba and Nasarawa States, and the welfare of displaced persons in Benue State. Obviously the government is more concerned with the supposedly, "guilty" Akume, and Benue people, be made to bear all loses since they have apparently been defeated in war and must bear full responsibility for all damages inflicted by the victorious Jukuns and the Nigerian Army of Taraba State. Displaced women and children even in normal war situation are granted humane considerations according to the Geneva Convention. In Benue State, they are shot and incinerated. Tiv land is vanquished, defeated, their retired General's "responsible for the militia" are routed and their homes razed. Tivland is occupied by the Nigerian army at Katsina Ala, to prevent the homogeneous Tiv communities from re-grouping, re-planning and attacking the Nigerian State; symbolised by the President and Jukun irredentists. Meanwhile, the President awaits further security reports doctored by his confidants and security aides to inflict even greater horrors against the Tiv in Benue so that the killing fields of Taraba may be watered, by more gallons of Tiv blood so that the blood can spiritually energise the dead Kwararafa Empire, that they may rise and engage in further conquest! What a demonic agenda! The unheeding and obdurate people at the helms of affair are anxious to teach Nigerians a lesson through fear and intimidation. It is that should any other group of people challenge the supremacy of the President, and any of the un-elected members of his inner cabal, they court disaster and they can quickly be sent to death. DEATH, may now await opposing views in the future, with a mind-set like this! Unbelievable? Yes, totally surprising and unbelievable, that this crime and the cover-up, and the arrogant refusal to visit the scene of crime, should be coming from a man who on the may - 1999, had made a covenant with Nigerian voters including those he has killed in the Tiv massacre. In his victory speech, President Obasanjo declared: It is now clear that President Obasanjo needs to hear from the people to refocus his priorities, and also to re-conceptualise his policies away from the excess baggage of prejudice, hatred, and stereotyping which weighs him down and threatens to destroy whatever seeds of greatness inherent in him. Until he listens to the people's agenda, on how to handle this and other crises, he would need a bigger Army to occupy Nigeria, so that his consortium can rule without disturbance. There are so many flashpoints that derive from structural injustice and the preponderant arrogance of patrimonial and prebendal exercise of power. In the North alone, the flashpoints exist in Kaduna, between Katafs and Hausas, in Taraba State apart from Tiv-Jukun, there is Mumuye-Fulani, and Jukun-Kuteb. In Bauchi State the Sayawas and Hausas are in conflict. In Kano and Jos, religion is a sore case, in point. The Fulani and Yorubas in Ilorin are poised for war, while in Ondo State, the Ijaws and Yorubas are engaged in a long drawn conflict. Potential areas of crises exist in Bayelsa State, especially resulting in unjust Local Government creation exercise and the neglect of the Nembe people like the Tiv of Taraba State. In Delta State; the Isoko, Ijaw and Itsekiri have their complaints against structural injustice just like the Tiv of Taraba State. In Niger State, the people of Doko have continued to feel aggrieved by injustice, just like the Tiv of Taraba State. In Borno Emirate, there is tension, as the people of the Uba Community feel aggrieved by arbitrary boundary adjustments of the past. In the West, the Ife-Modakeke in Osun State and the Ilaje-Ijaw of Ondo State are familiar flashpoints not to talk about the simmering religious conflicts that are potential flashpoints everywhere in the Northern towns. The East is replete with ethnic and political crises, and violence has erupted in certain places. How can Nigeria allow the abuse of the last line of our defence capability the Army, which is being pushed to take partisan raids, against these poor people across the nation, whose crime is just that they are crying out for justice to be done to them? a) How can government heal the wounds of hate festering among communities that had lived peacefully in the past, compensate the dead, the injured and restore houses and property where the State military institutions, are responsible for massacre and massive destruction of property in our nation? b) How can government address the institutional injustices of the past military administration in the creation of certain States and Local Governments, where some groups are being discriminated against and treated as second class citizens and which has given rise to several flashpoints of violence in several places in the country? c) How can government, boost food production by upgrading old-fashioned archaic implements, tools and methods to enable the farmers and farming communities enjoy a boost in their productivity without adverse effect, on their health and environment? d) How can our democracy, be better organised, and modernised to be based on the principles of; Popular control and political equality rather than on the corruptive tendencies of prebendalism, neo-patrimonialism and personal rule, which leads to civilian dictatorship? BACKDROP OF THE HATE AND RAGE AGAINST In order for the government and people of Nigeria, to deal with the issue of hatred and rage by the Jukuns against the Tiv and vice-versa, there is a need to understand the underlying psychological, sociological, historical, economic and political roots of the crises. It is when these phenomena and anatomy of hate and the nature and extent of the violence that has metastasized into an ethnic cleansing is properly understood, and conceptualised, that a solution can be rationally worked out, that will guarantee enduring peace to both sides of the conflict in the effected communities. The Chief reason for the current crisis can be traced to the desire by the Jukun elite, to re-establish the long dead Jukun Empire of Kororofa. THE RE-EMERGENCE OF THE DEAD KOROROFA EMPIRE There is no doubt that the tribe called Wapan, but nicknamed Jukun were part of a great empire in antiquity. There is sufficient evidence that Kororofa Empire existed with its headquarters in present day Gombe State, and that this empire very actively engaged in conquest of the Northern Empires including Zaria and Kano. Their empire is supposed to have straddled the whole north stretching from South of Bornu State to modern day Zamfara. It is also claimed that they might have even conquered other empires in Nigeria living South of the Benue, as reported in 1894 by French Lieutenant Mizon "that they had probably conquered the ocean and had certainly been in touch with Europeans" (RC. Abrahams 33). This may be a little far-fetched. But while we celeberate an empire that was so big, we also must study and find out if the building or destruction of the empire was through the blocks of hatred, extermination of long standing allies, injustice or in fostering unity, diplomacy and friendship. This greatest empire, fell apart, and great was its fall, that no engineer of political and social hatred can weave its broken parts together. The present attempts at resuscitation are merely a Kwararafascism that shall die an ignoble death and leave a record of unsurpassed odium in modern society. Records of the fall of Kororofa Empire indicate that when the Jukun marched against Bornu's capital Gazargamo in 1684, they were roundly defeated by the Bornu Empire. (See R.C. Abrahams p.33, and the Borno chronicles p.35). The remnants at Kororofa, in Present day Gombe State, were again routed by Buba Yero of Gombe and around 1860, "The Jukun melted away before Buba Yero of Gombe and Abubakar, Alkalin Dagara, and Burba of Bakundi finally destroyed what was left of Kororofa," (RC. Abrahams p.34). Even before the final destruction, the Jukuns had fled westwards to meet the Tiv who had already occupied the Benue valley at Kassan Chikki in present day Awe in Nasarawa State. The present Jukun settlement at present Wukari, was already occupied by the Tiv as Waka, district. It was actually an accident. According to R.C. Abrahams, Zakanju Tsonkwa who built the town of Wukari, where the Tiv were already settled, was on his way to war, when it was suddenly discovered, that their great "war juju", had been forgotten and left behind Messengers were hurriedly despatched to fetch it. But on reaching the spot, they were horror struck, to find one had turned into a hot water spring, and another into a hill. This was taken as a sign that the Jukun chief should remain on the South of the river Benue. When, Zakanju Tsonkwa built the present town of Wukari, the Munshis whom he met at Wukari came to salute him and he appointed one of them Buryako to the office of Agaiya around 1820 (RC Abraham 37). This fact alone puts to ridicule the posturing of Jukun elite in their refusal of the 10-point agreement, especially to appoint the Tiv in Taraba to the Wukari Traditional Council. If the man who founded Wukari could do it in 1820,only a peculiar hatred and desire for unending war prevents them from doing it now. When under the reign of Aku Uka Atoshi Agbumanu 1848-1866, Wukari was to be destroyed by Fulani, when Haman SarkinWase and Yerima Sali of Missau besieged Wukari, it was the Munshis that saved the Jukun from annihilation (R.C. Abrahms 37). It is important to understand this fact so that this conflict and violence can be understood as a long build up of a reservoir of hatred by both sides-the Tiv and the Jukuns. The Jukuns main hatred of the Tiv is not really directed at the Tiv perse, it is the Pathology of hatred of their condition. A once great Jukun empire existed in the 16th century that brought death and conquest to other ethnic groups. Sadly for the Jukun no empire lasts forever. The Jukun empire also collapsed and they were defeated by the Fulani's, and in their defeat came to meet the Tiv at their locations in present day Nassarawa and Taraba States. Since then, they had existed in a symbiotically beneficial relationship, the Jukun as fishermen and the Tiv as farmers. This relationship remained very cordial until the British under Lord Lugard sought to place the Tiv under the Aku Uka during the colonial period. This is the first step of the Jukun risorgimento, brought to existence and fed into the Lord Lugard spirit of "killing the natives and stealing their lands". The Tiv hatred of the Jukun elite arose from the unjust and unfair treatment right from the days of Lord Lugard to contemporary times, when the Jukuns have sought the co-operation of unjust regimes at the Centre to kill them, burn their houses and drive them from ancestral lands. The Tiv hatred is a reaction to a growing culture of abuse and stereotyping where they are variously called BISHI OR BAWHANA strangers, or foul-mouthed people. Tiv hatred of Jukun is borne of their being treated as second-class citizens not deserving dignity or rights or to be heard and not even the right to express their culture or to worship by a group of people fewer in number to them but who claim superiority over them because of their feudal roots which have no relevance to the Tiv. From 1987, the Tiv have been systematically denied the right to register to vote in Wukari, and even though they numerically predominate, there is not a single Tiv employee in Wukari Local Government. The Jukuns accuse the Tiv of not assimilating or integrating with the Jukuns. The Tiv counter this by saying the BISHI policy of the Jukun does not allow them to integrate as the Jukuns denigrate Tiv culture and religion. In the current crises, Jukun irredentists burned down 24 Tiv Churches. The Jukuns according to the Tiv have introduced the BISHI as a scorch earth policy, to advance a risorgimentorist, apartheid. The Tiv are ones now that are being hunted and killed in Taraba State today. The fury of hate and rage has become ethnic cleansing. Government involvement through the army has introduced a horrifying spectre and a new dimension of violence in Nigeria; the dimension of government executing a war against the people that elected it to power. It is important for all actors in this drama of hatred to understand that the pathology of hatred is multi-dimensional but more significantly it is the stage in a society when rationality and humanity is taken over by inhumanity and irrationality. Vaclav Havel, the President of Czech Republic describes this pathology of hatred with a designer's accuracy on the ongoing Tiv-Jukun conflict. According to Havel: "I have noticed that all haters accuse their neighbours, and through them the whole world of being evil. The motive force behind the wrath is the feeling that these evil people and the evil world are denying them what is naturally theirs. In other words, haters project their own anger onto others. Here too, they are like spoiled children. They don't see that they must sometimes show themselves worthy of something and that if they don't automatically have everything they think they should, this is not because somebody is being nasty to them" According to Havel, people who hate feel that they are victims of a great evil force and injustice that has to be eliminated to give justice its due, they are prepared to do any injustice to the others in order to get what cannot be granted: the whole world. Any person who merely situates this conflict on settler-indigeneship syndrome engages in intellectual sloth, and does not understand the dynamics of the funnel effect, that grips a group of people suffering from a complex of poor collective imaging. Yes, the Jukuns had great empires in the 16th century, and yes, the British revived the Jukun empire and feudal structures in 20th century to contain the Tiv and yes, indeed Lord Lugard sent the colonial army thrice to subdue the Tiv (and these armies were defeated). But this does not mean that an independent and democratic government of Nigeria must take lessons from Lugard on Barbarism against the citizens of Nigeria especially the Tiv, towards a greater Kwararafa risorgimento. This is called ethnic cleansing and genocide and it is a major denial of Fundamental Human rights of all human being. It is a crime for which the perpetrators are to be brought to justice, if not here in Nigeria, at the international fora. THE KWARARAFA RISORGIMENTO Like the rise of fascism in Europe, the reign of hatred and violence against the Tiv people, started as a movement to garner a cohesive Jukun unity, and ignite their passion for the revival of the Kwararafa Empire, which had flourished in the Northern Nigeria region from 16th century. The Kwararafa wielded a strong military force that was the terror of the whole, north. Their conquests are said to include Zaria and Kano, and were even on the verge of capturing Katsina. But no empire lasts forever in the lesson that history teaches. The other lesson is that any society that is over- militarised dies because of internal contradictions, and absence of other institutional supports. Mercifully and fortunately, the fire of conquest died off as the Jukun themselves suffered defeat from the Fulani onslaught. By the 19th Century, the Jukun were a defeated tribe and empire, like all other dead empires of the world. By the time the Jukun arrived Benue valley, their empire was on the decline. They met the Tiv as equals, and have never had wars of the magnitude being fought with sophisticated weapons now. There was a co-operation between the Tivs and the Jukuns. The Jukuns benefited from Tiv husbandry, while the Jukuns provided the Tiv with psychic and spiritual support. The traditional rituals, magic potions, and medicines of the Jukun that were steeped in ritual and magico-religious practices were coveted, by the Tiv whose religion was a monotheistic God, "Aondo," and whose worship was remarkable less ritualistic and less mystified. A great friendship and bond existed as well as co-operation until the British arrived. Indeed the Tiv military might saved Wukari and Jukuns during the reign of Aku Uka Atoshi Agbumanu in 1846-1866, from the combined attack of Sarkin Wase Haman, and Yerima Sali of Missau. (See Abrahams 37). KWARARAFASCISM The British waged war against the Tiv from 18th century till up to 1906. Their desire was to subdue the Tiv to accept British rule. They killed and plundered. They used the most sophisticated guns and their best-trained army against the Tiv armed with only bows and arrows. The Tiv refused to be brought under British rule, since they found it illogical and unjust that another alien race or group would impose a rule over them. It was not the Jukuns that manufactured Kawarafascism. It was the British. The British sought to rekindle the passion of superiority in this tribe, the Jukuns who had dwindled significantly in number. This renewal of Kwararafa Empire was mainly directed against the Tiv, whom Lugard was determined to wipe out. Lugard to-tally underestimated the power of the human being to assert his God given rights. He totally misunderstood the Tiv socio-political arrangement and worldview, which was superior to most of the other tribes and even the British at the time. Before the British came the Tiv practiced the most advanced participatory democracy, by which Tiv society was organised. Tiv society rejected and still rejects feudalism. All Tiv people were equal, and the society was organised on kinship and lineages. The highest decision making body was the preserve of the gerontocratic elite, whose decisions had to be yet ratified by the Tiv great assembly "Jir Tamen", where all the Tiv were represented, including the women and the youth. The Tiv operated Zoning and Rotation of political positions. They also shared out; all economic proceeds, according to the lineages, equitably. But Lord Lugard, obdurate in his ignorance and arrogance, expected the Tiv to have been ruled by a king as evidenced in other military organisation. Finding no king among the Tiv, and no feudal structure, as he saw among the other tribes, like the British monarcy, he concluded that the Tiv were "savages" to be eliminated, so that the dead Kwararafa Empire might rise and bring the rest of the tribes of central Nigeria under the control of the British. It is instructive that the balkanisation, of Tiv land in 1976, when Obasanjo, T.Y. Danjuma and Murtala Mohammed were the triumverate, was a follow-up of the Lugard policy, which carved up the Tiv and shared them up to be governed by the Wukari, Ogoja and Lafia Chiefdoms. To Lugard, the Tiv were "ignorant savages" whom he had sworn to eliminate. This was clearly not the British policy and Lugard was reprimanded very severely by the colonial office. Lugard in pretended remorse wrote to the colonial office in London. Lord Lugard's successor as the high commissioner of Northern Nigeria, Wallace took the handing over notes from Lugard seriously. He was to settle the Tiv genocide once and for all. He assembled the most formidable war machinery. He attacked the Tiv in their ancestral lands in Waka (called Wukari by Jukuns) the team was led by captain Eckesley and they entered Tiv land for five weeks killing, burning of villages, cattle, and food (as is going on now in the year 2001.) Like Lugard before him, this genocide against the Tiv in order that Kwararafa Empire might be resurrected from the ashes of its dead past, was justified by Wallace "it is important that severe punishment be meted to these savage tribes" (Ikime: 173). In spite of massive losses against the sophisticated British army, the Tiv reassembled and in 1906, routed the British at Abinsi. No unjust power on earth can conquer a peoples spirit, whose cause is just, was the lesson of the Tiv victory in 1906 against the British with only their bows and arrows. Angered and infuriated, in a manner reminiscent of, President Obasanjo's 19-soldier's funeral oration, Lugard was given approval by the colonial office to deal with the Tiv. Lugard assembled the greatest military force that the British had ever assembled in the colony (compare the recent massacre) and moved on the Tiv to a cleanse the "savage" Tiv tribe, and to the delight of the Jukuns that fought alongside Lugard's army, hundreds of thousands of Tiv were mowed down and the Tiv areas in Wukari, and present day UKUM, LOGO, and KATSINA-ALA became killing fields (see Ikime 173). Just like the Tiv massacre under President Obasanjo is probably due to the impression that retired soldiers were waging war against the State. During Lugard's time, the justification was that the Tiv were "savages" but the erudite historian Obaro Ikime condemns this because, " no evidence was adduced by Wallace to justify the accusation of savagery on the part of the Tiv, unless refusal to yield up a people's independence can be construed as savagery."Similarly, no evidence exists that the Tiv nation is planning to undermine the State now. They are crying out against the ethnic cleansing agenda. Lugard was ecstatic and vowed that every single Tiv man was to be killed. When Lugard was promoted to Governor-general of Nigeria, he directed his lieutenant and comrade at genocide, Wallace to complete the Job. He again applied to the colonial office to allow him continue with the killing of the Tiv, because according to him, they were "more truculent and daring" (Ikime 176) it is to the credit of the British, that they now saw through this sustained anti-Tivism, a deliberate ploy to a genocide against a determined people whose spirit refused to be conquered in spite of the heavy losses. Why can't the Government of democratic President Obasanjo, see the same ploy of his security Lugards? Instead of another approval, Wallace was stiffly reprimanded by the colonial office, that "your government should also abstain from any action which may constitute an aggression or a cause of grievance to native tribes" (See Ikime 176). This was how Tiv successfully fought British aggression as represented by Lugard. It was a heroic and noble struggle, which Tiv land should be upheld for courage and principles, not vilified. After 1906, with greater study of the Tiv, as a result of missionary zeal to convert pagan tribes, the British became more aware of the principled position of the Tiv as men of peace whose society was based on justice and honour. Sir Percy Giruard, the High Commissioner for Northern Nigeria then dispatched Ruxton with a strict directive not to try to harass or intimidate or to apply any force against the Tiv. Ruxton was such a man; skilled in diplomacy, logic and conflict resolution. He stole into Tiv land and befriended the people. Giruard was amazed and confessed with shame. "Few thought he would succeed in carrying out the policy laid down" (Ikime pg.177). This was the new policy of peaceful penetration. It is to the credit of Tiv resilience against totalitarianism and arrogant use of state power that the British CHANGED their policy of military conquest to constructive engagement, which they called peaceful penetration. In the Tiv juridical system, fighting or violence is the last resort, unless in self-defense. This is why disputes in Tiv land had to be subjected to serious and religious adjudication and arbitration and even if it took days, all testimonies were heard, and then finally the dispute was settled with the parties once again holding hands and drinking or smoking together. The British were not concerned with administering justice to the Tiv, initially. They came without warning or permission and wanted to intimidate and cow the Tiv to surrender. The British learnt their lesson, that the Tiv man is much more easily persuaded with superior reason than the barrel of a gun. To argue on the side of justice and truth requires courage. Ruxton succeeded in getting the co-operation of the Tiv. The colonial records of British atrocities against the Tiv referenced by the Jukuns in their current write-up are correct. Tiv gallantly resisted colonialism, and remained undefeated in spite of the horrendous crimes against them. This should be an act of honour. The British were rather surprised at how easy it was to appease the Tiv with arguments and reason rather than with violent assault, intimidation and even death. Just like the Jukuns are proud of their past imperial status and their rituals, the Tiv are passionately proud of honour and justice, and no Tiv man will accept to bow, scrape, or cringe before any injustice from anybody. The Tiv pledge death rather than dishonour or humiliation. This was and has been their psychology. To those that honour the Tiv and accord him a voice of reason, he is most accommodating, and has been noted as, the most hospitable people on earth. Only in the Tiv society in Nigeria, did a man resident in another part of the Country, Ibrahim Imam from Borno, get elected to the Regional Assembly. Xenophobist indeed! Tiv society is widely acknowledged by sociologists as the last egalitarian society on earth! The British came to colonise and not to reason or argue with the Natives, and so the only argument they brought against the Tiv question about what right the British had to colonize them was the gatling gun. Lord Lugard was the most blood thirsty of all British colonialists. His appetite for blood, in Nigeria was Tiv Blood and the British penetrated Tiv land and achieved complete penetration by 1914 when the southern Tiv which were already part of the southern protectorate were returned under control of Northern Nigeria when the two protectorates were amalgamated. It is to Tiv honour and not Odium that they represented the black race in resisting colonialism. It is to their praise that they valued honour and justice more than life. They could look at the British colonialist in the face and tell him, "Ornyian iho yough ese nyian kpa m loho u sunda wam ga! Proverbially translated, as even though you have appetite to dominate lands, I have not invited you to dominate me. This independence infuriated people like Sir Girouard, who exclaimed in disbelief that this was most amazing because he had known that "it requires greater courage to negotiate with him (Tiv) than to open fire on him" (Ikime 177). Yes, to tell the truth and to administer justice demands of us greater courage than to lie and become abusive or violent. Truth and justice require humility and love, lies and violence are nourished by hate and arrogance, which are in great supply. Even in contemporary Nigeria, the government took the most cowardly approach to open Armoured Tanks fire on the Tiv (defenceless Tiv Elders, women and children), rather than find out what was his particular problem. One hundred and seventy men, women and children were invited to Gbeji Town Square on 22nd October 2001 by the Nigerian army for a peaceful discussion. The Nigerian army opened fire and killed everybody. Subsequently the army went on rampage and burnt down several towns and villages, destroying houses, food and killing Tiv in their range at Zaki-Biam and Adoor 23rd-25th October, as well as in many other towns. The Army and the Jukuns have cleansed the majority of Tivs from Taraba State today. Meanwhile, the National Government, appears to be unwilling or incapable of enforcing security in Taraba as the Tiv are being hunted and killed. It is instructive that when the Bible Societies of Europe were sending missionaries to Nigeria, they chose to send the Dutch Reformed Church Mission (DRCM) of South Africa; the spiritual basis for the apartheid Regime in South Africa. Perhaps it was thought that the apartheid church would severely deal with the Tiv. In 1911, the DRCM arrived at Sai in Shitile, the confluence between Benue and Taraba States today. Their theology rammed into the Tiv how much inferior they were to the whites, whom they had taken to be equals in military prowess. This spiritual warfare was in full swing just as the British were removing all cultural emblems and artefacts in one of the largest expedition of wanton looting of artefacts ever recorded in colonial history. This was called "Haakaa". But then, the Tiv earned British respect for their resilience. This explains why during the First and Second World Wars, the able bodied Tiv men, were driven en-masse and conscripted into the colonial army that fought the war. Since they had no chiefs, and since the idea of killing them at home to make the Jukun population to be equal to theirs, was not achieved, the Kwararafa risorgenists made sure that they were sent through the most heated battles and war fronts. Many were slaughtered. But the Tiv and Jukuns that went to that war also respected Adolf Hitler; since the British kept the propaganda that all the allies were fighting one man called "Hitler". The World War II, made the Tiv realize many things; one was that they were being sent to the most heated battlefields to die because they had no Paramount Chief. They thought that if they had a paramount Tiv leader, then perhaps he could tell the British not to further decimate their population (This was why they returned home to demand for a Tor Tiv in 1947). They also realized that they had always been correct to fight for justice and freedom. They freely discussed about the Liberation of Nigeria from colonial rule. Again by the time they came back, the Imperial Police (Special Branch) had reported that East Germans were dropping caches of arms, for the Tiv people in Doma Forest to overrun the British government in Nigeria. The Governor-General again sent to the colonial office, to permit them, the final opportunity to settle once and for all, the Tiv question, to exterminate them in order to stop them from joining the Eastern Germans in Western Cameroon, and toppling the colonial administration and introducing communism to Nigeria. It took an act of parliament in 1946 to stop the punitive expedition against the Tiv, as had been done in Malaysia before. In his illuminating book, "Architecturing a destiny, an autobiography", General James Oluleye Rtd, confessed to another ethnic cleansing exercise during the Nigerian Civil War, when large numbers of youth were illegally and fraudulently drafted without any form of training to fight the Biafrans. Hundreds of thousands of Tiv died in this illegal drafts, and after the war, the survivors were driven back to Benue State without any benefits, because they had no army records. This is the crime that Nigeria has continued to inflict on the Tiv peope in continuation of Lord Lugard's genocide. Mercifully for the Tiv again, the field commanders suffered a guilty conscience. According to Oluleye: Lack of understanding and communication breeds mistrust, mistrust breeds antagonism and fear, fear breads hate and hatred violence. The failure to understand, tolerate and assimilate makes genocide, possible. But today, the Kwararafascism has transferred this hatred of the Tiv to a collective hatred against the Tiv. This is why the Tiv in order to survive the genocide had to fight. The Jukun's need of assurance for their past greatness; opened themselves as fitting recipients of gargantuan hatred. The British therefore provided the Jukun with their vocabulary of hatred and the abusive terminologies that have passed on as the new lexicon against the Tiv people. In my recent interaction with the Jukun elite, in the Tiv quest to find the root-causes of the hatred and violence, I was amazed at the colonial influence on the Jukun psyche. Even though the Tiv may have done nothing personal to the Jukun, they have verbalized the colonial stereotypes against them. A Jukun word has even been coined which is similar to apartheid. It is "BISHI", which means alien. That the Jukun hate the Tiv is a natural reaction. None of these Jukun elites no matter how highly placed is free from the psychological venom. At the name of Tiv, they immediately lose all sense of proportion and rationality; they immediately pour so many invectives and expletives against the Tiv. For instance the Jukun negotiating team in the Tiv/Jukun crises mediated by the Arewa Consultative Forum at Abuja had the following derisive terminologies and abuses for the Tiv: When the Jukun are asked the real root of this hatred, they only mumble and, parrot-like, regurgitates Lord Lugard and the colonial abuses against the Tiv as those above. Instead of the Tiv people to be known as lovers of justice and peace, the abusive stereotype has been used to characterize them so that they may be hated even the more. And Nigeria applauds as the Romans did when Christians were being torn apart by lions as entertainment. Hatred has gripped us all. Hating the Tiv benefits the Jukun elite greatly for the following reasons: (1). It covers their greed and selfishness and masks the fact that they have no agenda for promotion and improvement of Jukun society. Instead of Schools, Hospitals, and Industries, they choose the easy way out to hate the "Bishi" alien, and offering their Jukun youth, hatred for staple food. (2) Collective hatred of the Tiv is enough to marshal votes from not just the Jukun but all the hapless tribes that were plundered by the Jukun but now are being persuaded to be part of the new Jukun empire and therefore are Jukuns. And since the Jukuns hate the Tivs these tribes shouldn't wait to be invited. This use of Tiv hatred to eliminate loneliness, weakness, powerlessness and an inferiority complex has perhaps been the reason why the Jukuns are selling a Hoax to the Alago who have imported the senseless killing of the Tiv from Taraba to Nassarawa States, because they think they are Jukuns about to reawaken their Kwararafa empire. A similar hoax is being sold to the Goemai, Idoma, Igala, Igbira, Migili, Kataf, Rindre, (See Jukun elite: Jibrin Amfani et al, scourge of Tiv infiltration into Taraba State, in "Vanguard", Monday, November 19, 2001 pg.36). Let these tribes wake up. If anything, the Jukuns had helped to decimate them, as the Kutebs have learnt and opted out of this orgy of hatred. (3) The collective hatred of the Tiv provides the basis for manufacture of lies and security reports that legitimise the genocide and even elevates it to statecraft, as the easily contagious hatred is projected unto the national leadership which in its gullibility refuses to come out in the open but takes side with the haters in the wrong belief that, it is engaged in the noble art of state-craft. By killing the hated people, they reason, they are dealing with destabilizing forces. Genocide is therefore legitimised and the haters assume a common cover where they publicly proclaim their innocence while at night or in private resume their oaths of hatred and celebrate their success in fooling the nation as they drink Tiv blood. The present genocide against the Tiv and the Tiv physical and emotional response has become a great narcotic upon which both the government at the centre and the Tiv and Jukun peoples are heavily narcotised and delirious. In this psychological state, the Jukuns and the Tiv are enjoying mutual hatred and therefore are unable to rise up against the misrule of those that govern them. Hatred and violence have easily numbed the Tiv and Jukuns who should be looking for ways to collectively put pressure on government at the centre, to give them Electricity, Water and Schools. Since fate has thrown them together, might it not be better for them to make the most of it, and together weave together a great cultural fusion since history has also proven that all isolated cultures stagnate? Let the Jukun elite Beware of the consequences of reviving an Empire whose foundation is vested entirely on hatred. After all, they also acknowledge that the British were the main movers of the Kwararafa risorgimento, according to the Jukun elite: "it was for the reasons of the Tiv expansionist policy, which threatened the Jukuns that Jukun supporters consisting of Colonial Foulker and Boyd led by J. M. Freemantle, decided to adopt a policy that would preserve Jukun. THEY THEREFORE INITIATED THE RESUSCITATION OF THE JUKUN EMPIRE, in which it was possible for the whole of the Jukun speaking areas, and the other ethnic groups to be included" (See Jibrin Amfani et al, Vanguard, Tuesday, November 20, 2001). The British Ring/Fence Policy was a policy of ethnic cleansing and many Tiv lives have perished. It is this same ring policy that is being rigorously pursued today as the army occupying Katsina Ala to-day, effectively fenced Tivland, when the killings at Gbeji, Adoor,Vaase, Zaki- Biam and other towns were going on. As long as the Ring-Fence army in Katsina Ala continues to stay, the Tiv should expect further cleansing from this regime. Nobody can be protected; whose only protection is hatred and violence. Violence whether verbal or physical breeds its type and soon the bred violence hits back at its benefactor. Today, the killing of Tiv in the Kwararafa Empires goes on unchecked, like most previous government, the covert operation is covered by lies and half-truths. Even the Nigerian media owned by the State is engaged in the cover-up. But the killing will not cow the Tiv spirit that yeans for justice. CO-OPERATION WORKS. HURDLES TO PEACE 1. INJUSTICE IN CREATION OF STATES Up to the creation of 12 States by the General Gowon's Government in 1967, the warring faction, we were all under Benue-Plateau State. The Tiv lived peacefully with their neighbours all these times, and there was never a time, the Jukun and the Tiv fought tribal wars of this magnitude. The problem between and the Jukun started with the creation of additional states in 1976. In the exercise of that year, Benue Province was balkanised: Wukari Federation, which has always been part of Benue, was excised and merged to form Gongola State while Lafia was merged with Plateau State and the Igalas were, surprisingly, brought from Kabba Province, to join the remaining portion of the Balkanised Benue Province to form Benue State. This marked the beginning of a targeted attack, against the Tiv people and to downplay and diminish their numerical strength. A Jukun son, General Danjuma, who influenced the State creation exercise, lobbied and succeeded in his anti-Tiv agenda to balkanise the Tiv as the first step to ethnic cleansing. It is a sad irony or perhaps, was a grand design even then, that Chief Obasanjo, now President, together with General T.Y. Danjuma were part of the ruling triumvirate. Ever since 1976, the relationship between the Tiv and Jukun in Wukari area of now Taraba State has become bloody. It started early in the life of the defunct Gongola State. The then Sole Administrator of Wukari Division Mallam Ibrahim Sangari and the present Aku Uka Masaibi II, led a band of arsonists in 1977 to attack and burn down Tiv villages. They told the hapless villagers, at that time that, Benue was for Tiv people, while Gongola was created for the Jukuns, arguing that the Tiv people must relocate to Benue State. 2. POLITICAL INJUSTICE IN POWER SHARING Two Jukun politicians, both of them Christians, presented themselves for the post of Chairmanship. The Tiv conceded the chairmanship that position, they instead sought for the post of Deputy Chairman. Since it was the prerogatives of the Chairman elect to appoint his Deputy amongst elected councillors, they went to the two Jukun candidates Messrs Andrew Sulla Tsokwa and Samuel Tsovini Adda bargaining for the position. There was a third candidate in the race, Alhaji Danladi Shehu; to him the Tiv also went - he was willing to have a Tiv Deputy and so the Tiv massively voted for him. He won accordingly, and then appointed a Tiv man as his deputy. Since that single political action, the Tiv of Wukari have known no peace. The Jukun since 1987 repeatedly insinuated that the Tiv have "abused" their "hospitality" and must return to their "home state" in Benue or be eliminated. These campaigns finally led to the famous Jukun-Tiv war of 1990 - 1993. At the end of the war, the Federal Military Government, Taraba and Benue States Government agreed on a ten-point programme of action to restore normalcy in the area. 3. REFUSAL TO IMPLEMENT AGREEMENT The failure to implement this Ten-point programme has again led to the present war of the genocide against the Tiv people of Taraba State. The Jukun have even extend the war front this time from Taraba to Benue State, where several Tiv villages have come under attack and thousand of people killed. In such conflicts, people look up to the State for protection. This is why, when the police and the army are called upon, Tiv people respond with total submission. Unfortunately, today as in the past, the army has become a willing tool for influential Jukun leaders against the Tiv people. The army is often used against unarmed Tiv villagers and have been working in concert with Jukun, while making it impossible for the Tiv that flee their homes in Taraba State to return. These explain why Dan Anacha, a Tiv town several hundred miles from Wukari, had to be razed as reprisal for the killing of "soldiers" at Zaki-Biam by Jukuns, as reported on Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria News. This town has now been renamed Kwararafa town. The Tiv have become suspicious and distrustful of the army, especially, as it is headed by a prominent Jukun son as Minister of Defence. At his recent press interview in The News, (12th Nov. 2001), Danjuma seemed to suggest, that he had influenced the order of the army, to attack the Tiv people because he believed (albeit erroneously) that the Tiv were raising a militia to undermine state security. He said, " …it is because of the expansionist tendencies of the Tiv people. Look at their history, even during the colonial days this had been the problem. This is not new. But what is new today is that the Government of Benue State has a hand in fuelling the crises." 4. TERRORS AND MASSACRE 13TH MAY 2000 TILL DATE 5. THE ROLE OF THE NIGERIAN ARMY IN THE JUKUN-TIV CONFLICT 1.0 The 1992 - 93 Conflict 2.0 Attacks on Tiv in Moon, 2000 The soldiers were drawn from the 4 Motorized Battalion, Nigerian Army, 3.0 Attacks on Tiv in Yamini 4.0 Attacks on Ibi 6.0 The Genocide at Dan-Anacha 7.0 The Attacks on Benue Towns and Villages 8.0 On the 22nd October 2001, the army attacked Chembe, Ifer, Jottar, Iorza, Vaase and Gbeji, killing several hundreds of civilian unarmed men whom they callously executed in the Nazi ethnic cleansing style. 9.0 On the 25th of October 2001, the holocaust was extended to Zaki-biam and Tse-Adoor the home of Lt. General Victor Malu (Rtd). Unbelievable destruction and havoc on life and property was recorded. Had the International Media not brought the holocaust to world attention, the Federal Government would have cleverly covered this up with denials, deliberate lies, mis-information and stereotyping of the Tiv as "soldier killers" trying to wage war against the nation and therefore deserving of no pity and attention. Even then the President and the Chief of army Staff executed frantic blanket denials of responsibility. Misuse of the Army THE TIV IN NASSARAWA STATE The settlement pattern of the Tiv in these areas is characterised by contiguity with their kith and kin of Sherev, Utyondo and Nongov clans of Benue State. The physical features and facts on the ground and documentary evidence from British Colonial Governments up to date, give credence to above stated assertion. Indeed, in the state creation exercise of 1992, these areas were placed in Benue State only to be excised back to Plateau State a few days later. The Tiv people of Nassarawa State remained where they had always been. The problem started with the creation of Benue and Plateau in 1976. This became heightened with the creation of Nassarawa State from Plateau State in 1996, when it became obvious that the Tiv vote had the capacity to influence significantly the results of elections in Nassarawa State. Those who feared the consequences of such influence sowed seed of disunity amongst the other ethnic nationalities in Nassarawa State.The Jukuns encouraged them that the time was ripe now to embark on the final cleansing. By this very act of disorientation, the ethnic nationalities, which had hitherto lived with the Tiv without rancour, were goaded into taking arms against their peaceful neighbours and friends. The intention was to drive the Tiv people to Benue State but without the land areas occupied by them being excised to Benue State. These inhuman acts of brutality were centred around, the newly formed but unwarranted and baseless, fallacy, that the Tiv of Nassarawa including, those in Awe, Obi and Doma Local Government Areas, are settlers. In consequence, the Tiv in Nassarawa State had been and continue to be subjected to all forms of deliberate denial of their fundamental human rights. These include discrimination and deprivation of rights to land use and ownership, denial of employment, education, political participation, rights to vote and be voted for, and now rights to life and property. Moreover, in spite of their numerical strength, their language is not recognised on the state media. Their traditional and cultural institutions have been wickedly suppressed. Because of this desire to suppress Tiv votes, the local tribes in Nassarawa were thus incited to terrorise and drive the Tiv away from the State, and sporadic killings of the Tiv began to take place. So many Tiv leaders were killed with their women and children and their houses burnt. This genocide agenda went unnoticed for six months (from Dec. 2000 - June 2001), it was when a Special Adviser (Special Duties) to the State Governor, was killed by highway armed men, on his usual route to Lafia. Suddenly, the world took notice. One life became more important than 500 people killed within the period. Of course, the killing of the chief became a justification for the systematic massacre of Tiv people and the driving away of over 500,000 from Nasarawa into Benue State. Today, Benue has virtually become a refugee camp. The Tiv are refugees in their own country. Meanwhile, armed bandits in Nasarawa and their sponsors have vowed that they will not allow the Tiv to return, unless they agree to return as immigrants, that is, by signing agreements not to participate in the politics of Nasarawa State. They must accept not to vote or be voted for. So far, the Federal and Nasarawa State Governments, appear unable to provide the safe return of the Tiv to their ancestral lands, where they have lived for over four centuries. DENIAL OF POLITICAL AND OTHER RIGHTS As a multicultural and multi-religious society, Nigeria can only survive by tolerance; by our accommodating each other's religion and culture. While the Tiv tolerate others, their neighbours have chosen the dangerous and irrational path of intolerance and aggression against our people. Certainly, violence begets violence. If not properly handled, small violence degenerates into bigger conflagrations. This is why we wonder why Nigeria looks the other way when the Tiv are being systematically massacred so that undemocratic, and genocidal forces in Nigeria can unjustly establish themselves into oligarchies by subverting the democratic process. They had disenfranchised the Tiv during successive military administrations why must the army now, programme their massacre and make them fugitives in their fatherland in modern Nigeria? It is also, surprising that a conspiracy of silence exists, to deny Tiv sons appointments as Commissioners and Permanent Secretaries in Nasarawa State as in Taraba State. The enemies of progress have prejudiced and incited the people against the Tiv so much that when the Tor Tiv came to Nasarawa State, a bunch of hooligans attacked him, manhandled him, and severely injured his personal bodyguards. REVIEWING THE 1992 AGREEMENT 1. The two traditional rulers the Tor Tiv and the Aku Uka were directed to join hands and work together for peace. Although this 10-Point agreement fell short of social justice, since there was no compensation for property and lives lost, the Tiv considered it as a Magna Carta and their Bill of Rights. Unfortunately the Kwararafascism, rose up to denounce their people claiming that the peace talk was hijacked by Tiv interest group. The Aku Uka and the Jukun fragrantly refused to implement any aspect of the agreement including guaranteeing safety to the displaced, till date. The Tiv people returning to Taraba were to mandatory obtain permission in writing (a pass) from the Wukari Traditional Council, the seat of hatred against the Tiv. In fact when the Tiv returned in sufficient numbers, the Jukun set upon them again to kill them on 3rd February 1993. Five Tiv were killed at Aghobi villager near Gidan Idi as they were rebuilding their homes. On 29th February, 9th March and 15th October 1993, massacre of over thirty Tiv people took place. In addition, there was complete refusal to allow the Tiv access to their settlement at Ayu, Pevikyaa-Utse, Anega, Gishiri, Abuja, Laha-Kpan, Agbo-B, Uyoo, Shiir and Tse Uwev villages. The Jukun out rightly refused to implement the 10-point agenda and since this was not a product of a Judicial Commission, it has not been possible to enforce implementation. We have examined the 10-Point agenda and we can further recommend that in the light of the need to situate the problems and solutions in Taraba State, the Taraba State Government should establish a Tiv Traditional Council in Taraba State which should appoint their Chiefs and District Heads in their own domain, just like the Chamba and Kuteb have theirs, since no Tiv man is qualified to be in the almighty council of the Aku Uka. SOLUTIONS FOR LONG TERM PEACE 1. RESTITUTION 2. CREATION OF ADDITIONAL STATES Of all the tribes above, only the Tiv have not qualified to have a State that they can wholly control. Even if these States were created just to offer security to life, it would be worth it. In the United States like Nigeria, we can have small, and large States co-existing happily together. 3. INDUSTRIES 4. RELIEF FUNDS 5. PEACE HALLS 6. SPIRITUAL SOLUTION The rule of the principalities, seeks to kill specific faculties of rational and moral comprehension by denial of truth. (See Rev. 18:33, 20:3, 10) The leaders serving principalities engage in double-speak and over talk. There is excessive concern with secrecy and the avoidance of political investigation. Principalities engage in intimidation and harassment of the people. They also indulge in exaggeration and deception. They curse and stereotype. The behaviour of our National Leadership in the Tiv Crisis has shown that our Leaders did all these things. They could be serving Principalities!! Let therefore the Church of God; pray for all of them lest the blood of all the victims of the Tiv holocaust be required of them on the last day. Our country must rise up in repentance, humility and prayer to save the Nation from the grips of principalities that have seized control, while our leaders are gasping for breath, angry and wondering why things are desperately wrong. Things could get worse; therefore let us all, be on our knees to pray. Amen. Abraham, R.C. (Capt) Tiv People, Muri Province (Anthropological Office, Northern Nigeria) National Archives Kaduna Ikime, O. The Fall of Nigeria (Heinemann London, 1977) National Archives SNP 17/18/K4049 (B). Benue Province, Wukari Division Makar, T. The History of Political Change among the Tiv in the 19th and 20th century, (Fourth Dimension Press) 1994. Tseayo, J. I. Conflict and Incorporation in Nigeria, (Gaskiya Corporation Zaria 1975). David, T. (eds) Political Aspects of Tiv Social Organisation in Tribe Without Rules, (London 1958).
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Posted by Robot| 15.03.2006 20:01