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His Excellency,
Executive Governor, Nasarawa State
Government House, Lafia, Nasarawa State.
Continued Encroachment, Dislodgement and the Undermining of Nasarawa’s Sovereignty by Benue State Under Your Watch
Your Excellency,
I write once again, with a heavier heart and deeper frustration, to express our outrage over the Nasarawa State Government’s continued silence and perceived inaction concerning the growing threats, encroachments and manipulative territorial expansion tactics of the Benue State Government and its people particularly the Tiv ethnic group along our southern border communities.
This open letter follows previous cries and complains made by communities in Awe, Doma, and Keana Local Government Areas, whose lands, identity, and peace are being forcefully eroded, while our government stands mute.
Historical and Legal Realities
It is important to remind Your Excellency that history and documented records are not on the side of Benue’s current claims. The colonial boundary between Keana (in present-day Nasarawa State) and Makurdi (Benue State) was originally defined at the north bank of River Benue, in the present-day North Bank, Makurdi, in Benue state. However, around 1910, a gentlemanly administrative agreement between colonial officers was reached to adjust the boundary line to Agan (Agana), beyond Makurdi’s old toll gate, solely for administrative convenience at the request of Benue authorities.
Despite this adjustment, the extant boundary that defines today’s Nasarawa-Benue boundary remains the one legally delineated between 1916 and 1924, reinforced by Legal Notice No. 1190 of 1936, a gazetted and binding colonial boundary framework. That legal instrument remains unaltered and unrevoked, thereby defining the true extent of Nasarawa State’s territory—facts that are known to Benue authorities and, indeed, should be zealously defended by the Government of Nasarawa State.
The Origin of Tiv Settlers in Nasarawa State
Historical records also reveal that the migration of Tiv people into Nasarawa land was not by conquest or heritage, but by invitation. During the reign of His Royal Highness, Osana Eladoga Onyatikpo, the 25th Osana of Keana, around 1858, Tiv labourers were brought from Abinse in present-day Benue to work at Omagede in Keana. Their presence eventually attracted more of their kin, who settled, farmed and thrived under the hospitality and consent of the Keana authorities.
Yet today, that hospitality is being repaid with land grabbing, aggression and an orchestrated agenda of territorial expansion facilitated by Benue State and quietly tolerated by Nasarawa State.
The Current Reality: Illegal Domination
Benue State, in blatant disregard of historical and legal boundaries, is actively expanding its grip on parts of Nasarawa land through illegal administrative practices including:
Conducting elections and census in Nasarawa communities, Collecting taxes and levies, Constructing schools and other infrastructures in areas such as Yelewata, Agangama, Torkula, Tarhemba Ayu, and Ihyev Hembato, all within the Keana corridor of Nasarawa State.
Even a basic Google Maps check today will reveal that Yelewata, where the recent alleged attack was reported, lies within Nasarawa State, not Benue. Yet Benue state continues to issue propaganda, stage crises and manipulate federal authorities with false claims all in pursuit of absorbing more Nasarawa land and transferring the loyalty of Tiv settlers to the Benue government.
Our Questions and Demands:
We now ask, as concerned and law-abiding citizens:
-Is the Nasarawa State Government no longer interested in protecting its territorial sovereignty?
-Has Nasarawa State quietly handed over parts of Awe, Doma and Keana to Benue State without informing its citizens?
-Why is the state government mute despite having legal, historical, and digital evidence to challenge these aggressions?
We can no longer watch helplessly as our people are dislodged, intimidated and dominated by external forces right under the nose of a silent government.
Therefore, we demand the following:
A. Urgent Public Statement from the Governor: Affirming the territorial integrity of Nasarawa State and rejecting any illegal claims or activities by Benue State authorities.
B. Activation of the National Boundary
Commission: Immediate re-engagement with the NBC to reaffirm the 1916–1924 boundary lines and resist any attempt to redraw them unfairly.
C. State-Level Task Force on Border Affairs: Establishment of a joint committee of historians, legal experts, traditional leaders, and federal survey officials to document and defend Nasarawa’s boundaries.
D. Prosecution of Illegal Administrative Activities: Petition the Federal Government to investigate and sanction Benue officials conducting unauthorized administrative functions within Nasarawa territory.
E. Security Deployment and Vigilance: Provide consistent security presence in all affected border areas to protect residents and prevent further incursions and dislodgement of indigenous citizens.
Your Excellency, a government that cannot protect its borders and its people risks losing both. We urge you to remember the oath of office sworn to defend every inch of Nasarawa State. Silence in the face of expansionist aggression is betrayal by omission.
We cannot be citizens in theory and abandoned in reality. We demand answers and more importantly, we demand action.
Yours in truth and patriotic urgency,
OTAKI from Nasarawa
On Behalf of the Concerned Citizens and border Communities.
