*Tor Tiv Challenges Notion Of Coexisting With Herders, Likens It To Living With Warriors
By Sam Tyav, Makurdi
President Bola Tinubu has assured that he would work with other stakeholders to bring lasting peace to Benue State in particular and Nigeria generally.
Speaking in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, during a town hall meeting with stakeholders in the state, President Tinubu, who commiserated with the government and people of the state over the unrelenting killings, noted that his administration was interested in unity and peace of the people, insisting that Federal Government would restore permanent peace in the land.
The President had earlier on arrival in the State, gone straight to a hospital where some victims of last weekend’s Yelwata slaughter by suspected armed herdsmen, were being treated.
Over 200 persons, some including entire families, were murdered in the incident.
President Tinubu, who expressed sadness over the killings in Yelwata town and other places, told the people that he was interested in commissioning of projects to enhance lives, pointing out that they were not voted to office to bury people.
Nonetheless, he assured that peace would return to the North-Central state.
Unfurling plans towards that end, President Tinubu revealed that a committee would be raised for the purpose of finding lasting peace, adding that the Tor Tiv and Och’ Idoma, the two paramount traditional rulers in the state, would be part of the committee that would meet in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
Warning that he did not want a repeat of the killings, the President counseled that as “Nigerians, we are members of the same family but we are only living in different rooms.”
According to him, there was no reason to fight, canvassing for synergy to be erected for national progress.
Tinubu charged the State Governor, Hyacinth Alia, to work towards changing the state’s situation to economic prosperity and appealed to the state government to provide land for the Federal Government to provide a ranch for better animal husbandry.
In his remarks, Gov. Alia commended President Tinubu for his visit on the heels of weekend’s attack on Yelwata.
The governor expressed hope that the president would proffer solutions to the wanton killings in the state and appreciated the efforts of security agencies in the State to try to bring peace.
He, however, solicited for improved security measures to confront the challenges better.
According to the governor, the attacks on the peace-loving people of Benue State spans over a decade and expressed hope that the President’s visit would bring an end to the security challenges.
He also appealed to the Federal Government to establish a special intervention fund for communities affected by attacks in the State, stressing that such fund would support the rehabilitation of displaced persons, rebuilding of destroyed infrastructure, and restoration of victims’ livelihoods.
On his part, the Tor Tiv, HRM Orchivirigh Professor James Ayatsewho, who also spoke, told the President that the state was facing a full war situation.
To those demanding that his subjects coexist with herders, the leading royal father, whose people have suffered countless murders and destruction at the hands of killer herdsmen, likened such situation to living with warriors.
President Tinubu, Tor Tiv said, has the capacity to handle even more complex challenges and appealed that the President should ensure an end to the genocide so that his people can return to their farms to feed the country.
The Tor Tiv, who stated that he is the paramount ruler of the Tiv race worldwide, lamented that Tivs in nearby Nasarawa state have been living there since the 19th Century, but were presently being dispossessed of their lands and other valuable properties.
He, therefore, appealed to the President to protect the indigenous Tiv people in Nasarawa state.
He recalled that because it was in the habit of Benue people to vote on the basis of capacity and performance, that the people of the state voted for Tinubu, assuring him that the people would continue to be loyal and support him even after 2027.
