Killers of Gboko travellers are our enemies, says Tor Tiv

The paramount ruler of Tiv nation, Professor James Ayatse, has condemned the killing of seven travellers in Gboko town by a suspected mob, saying the perpetrators were enemies of his people. He stated that they had no mandate of the seventh largest ethnic nationality in Nigeria.

The Tor Tiv, who was away in Port Harcourt, Rivers State for the meeting of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria when the unfortunate incident occurred, feared that the mob action would aggravate the persecution of the Tiv race.

In a statement at the weekend in Makurdi by his media assistant, Fredie Adamgbe, the monarch decried the jungle justice, warning youths in his domain to refrain from posting or acting on fictitious alarms on the social media capable of worsening the security challenges in Benue State.

Prof. Ayatse admonished his subjects to remain law-abiding always irrespective of provocations.While commiserating with the families of the victims, the Tor Tiv lauded Governor Samuel Ortom and the security agencies for their prompt actions to check further loss of lives and property.

He called on the Federal Government to urgently tame the “ongoing annihilation of innocent Tiv farmers in Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba and other states and indeed other Nigerians in different parts of the country.”