A socio-cultural group, the Alago Ikweyi Ggayi Development Union, has called on the Nasarawa State Government to urgently intervene in the ongoing killings following a land dispute between the Alago and Tiv farmers in the Keana Local Government Area of the state before it degenerates into a full-blown war across the state.
Recall that a crisis recently broke out around the Nasarawa-Benue border communities housing the indigenous Alago and Tiv farmers in the area, leaving four dead and several others injured.
Speaking at a press conference in Lafia on Thursday, the President of AIGDU, Mohammed Oshafu, further raised the alarm over the alleged plan by the Tiv farmers to forcefully take over their ancestral lands across their communities.
He said, “Before the farming season in Keana, the Alago people usually go to clear their farmlands in preparation for the farming season. But this time around, surprisingly, the Tiv farmers emerged from nowhere, stopping and threatening our people and claiming that the Tivs have decided to start farming in the area because it is not part of Nasarawa state.
“Our people suffered several intimidation and molestation throughout this period from the Tiv people, and at various times, forcefully taken to Daudu in Benue state and illegally locked and tortured in local cells, claiming that the land belongs to Benue and not Nasarawa state.
“The Osana of Keana (Traditional ruler) in his effort to ensure peaceful coexistence between Keana and Benue border communities of the Tivs, met with them severally to sue for peace but despite several efforts by the traditional ruler, the Nasarawa state government, the Keana Local Government Council and the peace-loving Alago people of Keana, the Tiv people continued to provoke and cause problems in the area.”
Reacting to the allegations leveled against the Tiv farmers, the President of Tiv Development Association in the state, Simeon Apusu, insisted that his kinsmen were not troublemakers and had never seen violence as a way to settle disputes.
Meanwhile, Governor Abdullahi Sule, who spoke through his Commissioner for Humanitarian, Special Duties and NGOs, Margaret Elayo, expressed concern over the unfortunate incident, during a recent visit to the Internally Displaced Persons camps in the area.
