•Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State
A coalition of Tiv community leaders in Nasarawa State has protested what it alleged as a “systematic land grab and ethnic cleansing campaign” disguised as agricultural development initiative in Nasarawa State.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja, Jerry Aondo (SAN), claimed that the state government with the support of security agencies and select ministries, have through the agricultural mandate initiative, forcibly displaced Tiv communities from their ancestral lands in Awe, Obi, Keana, and Doma Local Government Areas.
Therefore, the Tiv leaders have appealed to President Bola Tinubu and the National Security Adviser (NSA) to urgently intervene to halt ongoing demolitions, investigate the governor’s role, and deploy security personnel to protect displaced communities, reports Daily Independent.
“This so-called agricultural mandate is a cover for land grabbing, identity erasure, and commodification of lives for private gain” Aondo stated.
Specifically, he called on President Tinubu and the NSA, to intervene in a bid to forestall communal crisis and break down of law and order in the communities.
“The silence of the state government is ominous. The governor’s actions are sowing division and may ignite broader ethnic unrest if unchecked,” Aondo said.
If these actions continue unchecked, Nasarawa State, the Tiv leaders said, risks descending into deeper conflict with lasting implications for peace and development.
“We pray God touches the governor’s heart to show mercy to the Tiv people.
“I cannot practice law or sleep well due to the killings of my people” Aondo stated.
He expressed dismay on the lack of official response to petitions sent to the Nasarawa State Governor, Secretary to the State Government, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Commissioner of Police, DSS, and Commissioner of Agriculture.
Aondo described the state’s agricultural initiative as a “smokescreen”, alleging that dozens of Tiv villages—among them Udugh, Utsuwa, Usula, China, Chabo, Wachi, Tyungu, Uvirkaa, Ugba, and Ayarkeke—have been demolished, marked for destruction, or subjected to forced displacement.
“In Udugh village, bulldozers rolled in under armed escort and destroyed homes, schools, Churches, and even graveyards after Governor Sule’s visit on May 4.
“Residents were left with no option but to flee their ancestral homes, the coalition of Tiv leaders said.
Aondo disclosed that women in Osula village were chased off their farmlands by state-backed operatives, leaving families destitute and without means of survival.
“What is happening is not development. It is ethnic persecution masquerading as agricultural progress, Aondo asserted.
The community also alleged that some traditional rulers have become complicit by denying Tiv residents indigene certificates and aiding the dismantling of their settlements.
The coalition highlighted burning of Gbaghtar village in Doma LGA by suspected Fulani herdsmen on May 10, warning of growing insecurity targeted at Tiv communities.
