The Tiv Development Association (TIDA) in Nasarawa State has strongly criticized the Alago Ikweyi Gbayi Development Union (AIGDU) for comments made in response to the Tiv community’s appeal to the Federal Government following the massacre of over 200 natives in Yelwata, Benue State.
In a statement signed by its Acting President, Professor Emmanuel Kucha, the Tiv group condemned AIGDU’s remarks as insensitive and accused the union of seemingly celebrating the tragic killings of innocent civilians. The statement expressed disappointment at what TIDA described as a disregard for the pain and trauma experienced by the affected communities.
“It is puzzling that while the state government is compulsorily acquiring our land under the guise of agricultural development, it is the Alago Nation that has become the mouthpiece of the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State and the only ethnic group supporting this clearly unlawful action and injustice against the Tiv Nation,” the statement read.
TIDA emphasized that the lands in Keana, Obi, and Awe Local Government Areas, which AIGDU claimed do not belong to the Tiv people, were in fact cleared and settled by their forefathers and handed down through generations. The group refuted claims that the Tiv have no ancestral ties to the disputed areas, stating that history and lived experience support their presence and ownership.
The controversy was reignited after the Tor Tiv, during President Bola Tinubu’s condolence visit to Benue State, appealed to the Federal Government to intervene in the oppression of Tivs in Nasarawa and to address what he described as genocidal land grabs, not mere farmer-herder conflicts.
In response, AIGDU released a statement denying the Tiv people’s ancestral claims in certain LGAs, prompting the sharp rebuttal from TIDA.
“We must make it abundantly clear without mincing words that the lands in question were deforested by our forefathers and passed on to us from generation to generation,” TIDA asserted.
Despite the rising tensions, the Tiv association maintained that it has no intention of engaging in ethnic conflict with the Alago people. Instead, it appealed for unity, urging both groups to resist attempts to distort shared history and to collectively oppose what it termed a gross injustice.
“We believe that the Tiv and Alago nations have a common history. They have fought together side by side against injustice and they stand to gain more by standing together and speaking with one voice against this manifest and colossal injustice,” the statement concluded.
As tensions simmer, the call for dialogue, historical accuracy, and justice remains central to the Tiv community’s appeal, with hopes that long-standing relationships between ethnic groups in Nasarawa State can be preserved amid the unfolding land dispute.
