From Godwin Agia, Jalingo
Some displaced people of Tiv extraction in the Wukari Local Government Area (LGA) of Taraba State staged a peaceful protest on Tuesday, marking seven years of displacement in Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.
The displaced farmers called on the federal government and the international community to intervene and ensure justice, enabling their return to their ancestral homes.
The IDPs stated that life has become unbearable, noting that they have been denied access to their livelihoods since 2019.
Addressing journalists after the protest in Kyado, Benue State, Hon. Terhile Ahur, leader of the displaced persons, blamed the Taraba State government, the Wukari LGA authorities, and the Wukari Traditional Council for their uncooperative stance regarding the return of the displaced Tiv population.
Ahur reported that over 150,000 Tiv people from the local government have been displaced and are currently taking refuge in Benue State. Additionally, he noted that over 300 churches, 70 schools, and 30 primary health care facilities belonging to the Tiv community have been destroyed.
“It started as mere clashes between the Jukun and Tiv in Kente village, Wukari, in 2019. The situation escalated into what we now view as a deliberate genocide against the Tiv people in the area.
“The crisis has transformed into a genocide against Christians, particularly those of Tiv extraction. The attackers cooperate with bandits to destroy churches”, he stated.
The IDPs leader lamented that all efforts to resolve the crisis and facilitate the return of the displaced persons have been unsuccessful due to the perceived complicity of both the Wukari LGA and the Taraba State governments.
Furthermore, Hon. Ahur further alleged that the Tiv people are being tagged as “settlers” in the local government, while their ancestral lands have been seized and partitioned by the Jukuns and their allies.
“For the past seven years, all efforts to return to our ancestral homes and farms in Wukari Local Government have proven abortive due to the seeming complicity of both the local and state governments in this crisis,.
“Today, we are being labeled as ‘settlers’ in our own home”, he said.
The IDPs leader emphasized that the political history of the area proves beyond contradiction that the Tiv are genuine indigenes of Wukari LGA and Taraba State at large.
“The history of our indigenship in Wukari and Taraba in general is clear, extending beyond the colonial period,” he insisted.
He continued : “In the 1959 General Elections, Hon. Charles Tangul Gaza, a Tiv man, contested against a Jukun man, Hon. Ibrahim Sangari Usman, for the Wukari seat in the Federal House of Representatives and won under the UMBC.
“Similarly, after independence, Hon. David Tagherga Mtuem and Hon. Simon Awua were elected to the defunct Gongola State House of Assembly in 1979 and re-elected in 1983. Hon. Iyoltyer Musa, a Tiv man, was appointed by late Governor Abubakar Barde as Chairman of Wukari Local Government in 1982, and Hon. Shinja Abako was elected Vice Chairman in 1986.
“We demand an answer as to why we are now treated as settlers.”
The IDPs also accused the Nigerian Army of complicity in the crisis.
“We want the world to know that the Nigerian Army is complicit in our situation. In most of our villages in Wukari Local Government, military checkpoints have been strategically located—not for peace, but to deter our people from returning to their homes,” the group alleged.
“We wish to inform the world that the killings are not merely an eviction agenda, but a well-coordinated genocidal campaign against the Tiv people and the Church.
We call on the international community and the Federal Government of Nigeria to act quickly to stop this abuse of our fundamental human rights.
“We draw the attention of the international community to the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
“We also call on the Chief of Army Staff to investigate the activities of the personnel deployed to Wukari Local Government for peacekeeping,” the IDPs asserted.
While appealing to President Bola Tinubu to facilitate their safe return, the IDPs requested the deployment of independent and unbiased security personnel to protect them upon their return.
They also appealed for the provision of relief materials to alleviate their ongoing hardship.
