Tiv group scores security agencies low, urges overhaul to halt murders

•Charges troops on professionalism
The Tiv Youth Organisation (TYO) yesterday flayed security agents for their seeming inability to contain the killing of Tiv people, calling for the overhaul of the nation’s security architecture to contain the menace.

At a press conference in Makurdi, the group’s national president, Timothy Hembaor, argued that the reshuffle, which should accommodate other nationalities, would give room for intelligence gathering and fair play.

He urged the Federal Government to counsel the troops deployed for the Exercise Ayem AKpatema in to be professional in conduct and put an end to the daily killing and maiming of innocent, harmless, defenceless and law-abiding Tiv people of Benue, Nasarawa and Taraba states.

Lamenting the government’s alleged indifference to the to arrest and prosecution of the leaders of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and their sponsors, Hembaor said it was preposterous that the Fulani are laying claim to the Benue Valley, maintaining that the narrative had not been supported by any historical account.

His words: “The Tiv people are entitled to statutory rights over the lands of the Benue Trough where they have lawfully dwelt and earned a living from these past three centuries and have been so recognised by law.

“The Tiv people, will resist with all means at their disposal, the confiscation of our land and transmutation of same into grazing areas for the Fulani and their cattle. In essence, we are saying, ‘No To Grazing Areas of whatever sort in Tiv land.

“We, therefore, call on President Muhammadu Buhari to respect his oath of office and the constitution and sincerely intervene now and halt the killing of the Tiv people of Nigeria by his kinsmen.

“Failure to do so, the Tiv people are capable of defending themselves against any occupation of our ancestral dwellings.”

He vowed that his people would not succumb to the threats of Miyetti Allah and cede any of their for cattle colonies.