By Sam Tyav, Makurdi
Support arrived for the paramount ruler of Tiv nationality, the Tor Tiv, His Royal Majesty (HRM) Orchivirigh Professor James Ortese Iorzua Ayatse, who blasted the leadership of Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, (MACBAN) over the serial killings being perpetrated by killer herdsmen in Benue State.
Scores of persons have been killed, others injured and maimed, several hundreds displaced from their ancestral lands and properties worth hundreds of millions of Naira destroyed by the killer herdsmen in the North-Central State.
At a meeting on Friday with representatives of MACBAN, the Tiv ruler had told them some home truths.
Professor Ayatse, apparently indignant that the MACBAN leaders had claimed ignorance of the killer herdsmen among them, said: “The difficulty with this issue is that we are dealing with both herders and criminal herders.
“It’s like a situation where mechanics are going about their business and madmen have joined them, yet all are dressed the same.
“If you come here and tell us that a few criminal elements are spoiling the reputation of everyone, the first thing you must do is drive out the madmen among you.
“Deal with your internal issues. Don’t say you don’t know them. They dress like you, talk like you, and carry AK-47s like you. If they walk like you and kill like you, how can you claim they are not part of you?”
Applauding the Tor Tiv, a group, the Ya Vea Angbian Foundation, threw its weight behind the paramount ruler.
A statement by the Convener of the Foundation, John Terhemba Gbashah, which disclosed the position, noted that they were fully in support of the Tor Tiv.
The Foundation said it “stands in resolute and unshakable solidarity with the Paramount Ruler of the Tiv nation following his courageous and truthful response to the leader of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN).”
It added that: “The Tor Tiv spoke with rare moral clarity when he reminded MACBAN that the responsibility to distinguish the innocent from the criminal within the Fulani community lies with the Fulani themselves. His illustration—that it is impossible to tell the difference between a madman and a mechanic when both are smeared in grease—aptly captures the daily horror faced by our people, where so-called pastoralists roam freely with weapons of war, inflicting unspeakable violence, and leaving behind a trail of blood and broken lives.”
Ya Vea Angbian Foundation was pleased that the royal father was “unequivocal that the Fulani culture we once knew did not include the barbaric acts of rape, murder, land grabbing, and the mass displacement of peaceful farming communities.
“What we see today is not a clash of cultures but a coordinated assault—one that is strategic, sustained, and evidently laced with motives far beyond mere cattle grazing.”
The Foundation thumbed up the Tor Tiv for boldly telling MACBAN that “it is deeply insulting to the intelligence and humanity of our people to hear justifications that blame ‘overpopulation’ or faceless ‘criminals’ while our communities are overrun, our mothers defiled, our fathers butchered, and our children orphaned. This is not happenstance. This is calculated terror. And we say: enough is enough.”
The Convener of the Foundation noted that Tiv sons and daughters have paid a “heavy price” over the killer herdsmen’s depredations.
“Too many lives have been lost. Too many dreams have been buried. Our pain is not theoretical—it is etched into the soil of our homeland, stained by the blood of our innocent.
“We commend and stand firmly with the Tor Tiv for his brave leadership. He has spoken the mind of the Tiv Nation. The Tiv people will not be silent in the face of destruction. We will not be intimidated by rhetoric that seeks to excuse evil. We demand action, justice, and the restoration of peace and dignity in our ancestral lands,” he stated.
The Foundation, which mourned with the bereaved and the displaced, reaffirmed its unwavering support for the voice and vision of the paramount ruler, adding that “together, we say to the world: the Tiv Nation will not be erased. We are awake. We are united. And we will defend our future.”
