Nasarawa Governor Engineer Abdullahi Sule

The Alago Ikweyi Ggayi Development Union (AIGDU), has called on the Nasarawa State Government to urgently intervene into the ongoing land dispute between the Alago and Tiv farmers in the state before it degenerates into inter-state crisis.

Our correspondent had reported that the crisis broke out around the Nasarawa-Benue border communities housing the indigenous Alago and Tiv farmers in the area.

It would be recalled that the land dispute between the two warring tribes begun about four months ago.

Speaking at the press conference on Wednesday in Lafia, the state capital, the President of AIGDU, Mr. Mohammed Oshafu, also raised an alarm over the plans of Tiv farmers resident in Nasarawa state to take over their ancestral land.

He said, “Before the farming season, the Alago people go to clear their farmlands in preparation for the farming season. But, surprisingly, the Tivs 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, and at various times forcefully taken to Daudu in Benue State and illegally locked and tortured in local cells in Benue State claiming that, the land belong to Benue State and not Nasarawa State,” he alleged.

He continued, “The Osana of Keana, in his efforts to ensure peaceful coexistence between Keana and Benue border communities of Tivs, met with them severally to sue for peace.
Despite several efforts by the Government of Nasarawa State, the Keana LGC, the traditional institution of Keana and the peace-loving Alago people of Keana, the Tiv people continue to provoke and cause problems in the area.”

He accused the Tiv farmers of bringing their Tiv kith and kins to cross over from Benue and Taraba States to Nasarawa state side to take over the Alago farmland and cultivate them, alleging that the Agalo farmers were beaten, harassed and molested by the Tiv farmers.

“They seized our people’s motorcycles, arrested our people, and forced them to pay ransom,” he expressed worry.

According to him, “In 2001, when the Tivs fought in Azara of Awe LGA and got chased away to Benue state, some of them got tired on their way, so they had to stay over in Keana. Out of humanitarian concerns, Keana people accommodated the Tivs at South Primary School, Keana and fed them for months as IDPs.”

Speaking further on recent incident that leads to killings of innocent persons 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, however, told journalists that the survivors are currently receiving treatment at M&D Hospital, Lafia and Federal Medical Centre, Keffi.

He maintained that the unprovoked violence was not only an attack on the Alago community but also a threat to peace, stability, and food security in the region.

He stated that the Alago people of Keana remain committed to justice prevailing in the end, noting that they have refrained from taking the law into their hands.

“We remain committed to the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ of President Bola Tinubu, and a peaceful Keana is capable of contributing much more to the renewed Hope agenda,” he added.

While condemning in its totality the senseless killings of Alago people in Keana by the Tiv over farmlands that historically and administratively belong to the Alago people, he stated that the land in question did not belong to Benue State.

He averted that any individual or groups that formed themselves as trouble makers that could non no longer live in peace with Alago should vacate their ancestral land for them to continue having their peace as law abiding citizens of the state.

Reacting on the allegations leveled against Tiv farmers, the resident of the association, Mr. Simeon Apusu, 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.

He, therefore, regretted that the situation that 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.

His words, “The resort to violence in conflict situations was counter productive hence, dialogue must be encouraged as the best means of resolving disagreement amongst communities.”

The Governor, who spoke through his Commissioner for Humanitarian, Special Duties, and NGOs, Mrs. Margaret Otaki Elayo, expressed deep concern over the unfortunate incident when she visited the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), recently who were affected by the recent crisis in the Keana local government area of the state and promised to investigate the remote causes of the crisis.

He reaffirmed his administration commitment towards the provision of adequate security of lives and properties of the citizens across the 13 local government areas of the state, vowing to deal decisively with trouble makers causing unrest.