The Mutual Union of Tiv in America (MUTA) has called on Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari to urgently take measures to ensure the immediate return of thousands of Tiv people leaving in internally displaced persons(IDPs) camps(IDPs) in Benue, Taraba and Nasarawa states, to their ancestral homes.
MUTA made the appeal in an open letter to the President, signed by six of its members, Prof. Joseph T. Zume (Committee Chair -Pennsylvania); Engr. Simon Kusugh, MUTA President (Texas); Dr. Orduen Abunku (New York); Mr. Jerome T. Hule (New Jersey); Dr. Yakubu Tor-Agbidye (Colorado); Mrs. Miriam Tivzenda (Georgia); Engr. Mathew Atim (Ohio) and Engr. Charles Akure (New York) Liam Tony Ge, Attorney (Maryland)
In the letter, a copy of which was obtained by DAILY ASSET, the Tiv residents in America said they were miffed by what they described as “the coordinated murderous campaigns of existential proportions against several Tiv communities in Benue, Taraba, and Nasarawa states,” noting that “today about a million displaced persons in the three states remain in camps or dispersed among the population.
“As we write, hundreds of thousands of Tiv men, women and children, remain in destitute conditions in IDP camps in Benue State, while dozens of Tiv towns and villages in Taraba State have been overrun and renamed by the Jukun equally displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
“In Nasarawa State, despite the strong efforts of the current governor to resettle the IDPS, rebuilding communities remains a challenge, and abject poverty reigns. In all three states, the problems were engendered by violent attacks resulting in mass killings, the burning and looting of homes, and the destruction of farms and property of the victims. Regrettably, efforts by your administration have fallen short of any desirable results.
“We demand urgent intervention to end the suffering of these citizens by returning them to their communities and economically empowering them to rebuild their lives,” the letter stated.
The group said the peaceful resolution of the IDPs issues was crucial to the success story of Buhari administration and therefore, should be treated with every seriousness.
Giving a state by state analysis of the IDPs situation, the group claimed that, hundreds of thousands of displaced families now occupied 27 IDP camps across the state, with many more cohabiting with relatives in unpalatable conditions.
“The Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) classifies eight of the 27 camps as official while the remaining 19 are unofficial. Official camps usually have SEMA staff on site while unofficial camps are not staffed, poorly resourced because they are barely receiving any official support,” the group stated.
The organization regretted that large swaths of the lands vacated by the victims have been occupied by their violators.
“In Kwande LGC for example, the communities of Moon have lost their lands to armed herders who graze their cows freely upon while the real owners languish in IDP camps. The story is similar in Guma and a few other local governments. It is verifiable that any IDP who attempts a return to these lands scarcely returns alive,” it claimed.
On the situation in Taraba state, MUTA observed that the ongoing crisis was uniquely worrisome because “ the Jukun have also renamed about 30 Tiv villages and towns to obliterate their Tiv histories
This, it submitted was a signal of the “intent to uproot Tiv people from their legitimate ancestral lands,” warning that “if not curtailed, these provocative acts risk igniting an all-out crisis with the Tiv race world-wide.”
Although the group commended efforts by the Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule to resettle the displaced Tiv people in his state, it regretted that the returnees still faced monumental challenges without any financial assistance to restart their lives.
The group raised the alarm of an impending hunger in the land if the IDPs question was not immediately resolved.
“The lands left behind by the IDPs bear witness to the impending hunger beyond the immediate boundaries of the IDP camps. The economic impacts must not be ignored.”
“Throughout the history of Nigeria, there is no record of an indigenous group that has ever been permanently dislodged from their ancestral lands. To ensure a more sustainable path to Nigeria’s future, the Federal government must mobilize the affected states to return all IDPs to their ancestral lands and incentivize them to engage back in productive livelihoods,” the organization also wrote.
Source: DAILY ASSET
