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.
NewsNow had reported that 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, the state capital, on Thursday, the President of group, Mohammed Oshafu, further raised the alarm over the alleged plan by the Tiv farmers to forcefully take over their ancestral lands across their communities.
Oshafu accused the Tiv farmers of bringing their kinsmen from Benue and Taraba dtates to Nasarawa State to foment trouble and oppress the peace-loving Alago farmers in the state, adding that many of his tribesmen were currently facing several kinds of humiliation in their farmlands on a daily basis.
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.”
Speaking further on the recent incident that led to the killings on Monday, June 24, 2024, he revealed that three Alago young men, all graduates, who ventured into agriculture, were attacked, taken into the forest, and shot severely, adding that one of the victims Musa Agade, died instantly, and the other two survived with high degrees of injuries.
He maintained that the unprovoked violence was not only an attack on the Alago community but also a threat to the peace, stability, and food security of the state.
The AIGDU president further appealed to the Nasarawa State Government to make more efforts towards proffering a lasting solution to the unwarranted killings and continuos oppression of the Alago people in the Keana LGA of the state, adding that his people had remained peaceful despite the several attacks from the Tiv farmers in the area.
Reacting on 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 have never seen violence as a way to settle disputes.
He lamented that the situation had led to the displacement of hundreds of Tiv farmers in Keana town and those of Obosidoma and other nearby Tiv villages in the area.
He further appealed to both the state and the federal government to hasten the ongoing boundary demarcation process between Nasarawa and Benue states so as to provide a permanent solution to the incessant land dispute between farmers at the border areas of the two states.
“The resort to violence in conflict situations was counter productive hence, dialogue must be encouraged as the best means of resolving disagreement amongst communities,” he added.
Meanwhile, Governor Abdullahi Sule who spoke through his Commissioner for Humanitarian, Special Duties, and NGOs, Margaret Otaki Elayo, expressed concern over the incident, during a recent visit to the Internally Displaced Persons camps in the area.
While promising to investigate the remote cause of the crisis, the governor reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to adequately secure the lives and property of the residents across the 13 LGAs of the state.