It called on the federal government and the international community to intervene quickly in what it termed a “grave humanitarian crisis”
By Austin Angwe, Makurdi
The Taraba Tiv People’s Association, TATIPA, Abuja chapter, has raised the alarm over what they described as “systematic campaign of displacement, identity erasure and institutional marginalisation of Tiv communities in Southern Taraba!”
In the statement signed by a member of Board of Trustees, Orbee Uchiv and made available to journalists in Makurdi lamented that over 300,000 people have been displaced while 280 villages belonging to Tiv people had been destroyed in southern part of the state.
The group lamented the continued eviction and violent attacks on Tiv and their settlements in Wukari, Ibi, Donga and Takum Local Government Areas of the State.
It called on the federal government and the international community to intervene quickly in what it termed a “grave humanitarian crisis.”
The trustee explained that Tiv people are not settlers in the State, and that their nativity has been well established by historical records since colonial documentation.
Based on the situation, it described the attempts to pushed out victims of the aggression from their ancestral lands, amidst the renaming of their towns dwelling places as part of the deliberately planned evil to erase the Tiv identity
Uchiv recalled names of Tiv communities in Taraba State allegedly renamed as including Dan-Anacha to Kwararafa, Peva to Chanchanji, and Ayu to Tsokundi among others!
The group equally condemned the alleged failure of successive administrations in the state to implement the recommendations of the various peace committees, despite the protracted nature of the Jukun-Tiv conflict which re-escalated since April 2019.
According to the group, the Tiv people in the state have been denied traditional recognition and political inclusion for decades, pointing out that while other ethnic traditional rulers have been elevated to first class statuses, the Tiv traditional institutions have remained stagnant for over 100 years.
Uchiv regretted that out of over 18 Tiv village heads that were officially recognised since 1923, none has been upgraded to a district or chiefdom and remain excluded from the Taraba State Traditional Council.