News Editor
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Say: Our people have been killed enough
By Edwin Philip
Nasarawa State government and the public have been urged not to keep a blind eye to the insatiable quest of the Tiv people of neighbouring Benue State from taking over their lands by allegedly killing Alago people over farmlands in areas historically known to be Alago settlements.
The call was made by the Alago Ikweyi Gbayi Development Union (AIGDU)Abuja, signed by its president Mohamed Oshafu and Hassan Ozegya Publicity Secretary, in reaction to the recent conflict that resulted in the killing one Musa Agade a young graduate farmer while two others all of Alago extraction, left for death but miraculously survived gun shots and machette cuts inflicted by their Tiv attackers, thereby left with high degrees of injuries on June 24, 2024.
The attack on the farms said to be located within the vicinity of Keana in the wake of the farming season was premised on the guise that the said farmlands belonged to the Tiv of Benue State.
Addressing Journalist at a press conference in Abuja, AIGDU said their people have suffered several intimidation and molestation throughout the period and at various times some of them were forcefully abducted and taken to Daudu in Benue State and illegally locked and tortured in local cells in Benue State claiming that the land belongs to Benue and not Nasarawa State.
“The ugly situation leading to the dastardly act, began four months ago usually before the farming season, Alago people go to clear their farmlands in preparation for farming season, surprisingly the Tivs 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 ”
According to the group, as result of the constant friction over the ownership of the farmlands, the Local Government Chairmen of Keana in Nasarawa and that of Guma in Benue State had met at the disputed places and resorted to the use of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), which did proved that the place under contention is located in Keana Local Government in Nasarawa State according to records from the National Boundary Commission.
They however conderm the killing of Alago people in Keana by Tiv people over the farmlands that historically and administratively belong to the Alago people and are recognised as part and parcel of Nasarawa State not Benue State, threatening that individuals or groups that form themselves as trouble makers and can no longer live peacefully with Alago people should vacate their ancestral lands in the interest of peace.
“Keana, nestled as border town has welcome diverse people -Fulani, from various places across Nigeria, Tivs from Benue State and other tribes from Plateau State, our peaceful coexistence has been the hallmark of Alago people’s nature of accommodating those seeking solace and livelihood in our land’.
The Alago Ikweyi Gbayi Development Union, added that the Alago people are peace loving, accommodating even in their grief but their kind nature have always been met with violence and disregard, saying that they are not cowards but people of strong resolve, exploring all avenues to avoid conflicts, as they are optimistic that justice will prevail at the end and would not succumb to the temptation of taking laws into their hands, expressing their loyalty to the government of the day in the State and nationally whuch should not be taken for granted or as cowardice.
