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Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
Members of the Benue State Caucus of the National Assembly have expressed concern over the crisis generated by the alleged verbal attacks on the person and office of the Chairman, Benue State Council of Chiefs, the Tor Tiv, His Royal Majesty, Professor James Ayatse, by the Minister of Special Duty and Intergovernmental Affairs, George Akume.
The National Assembly lawmakers, in a statement made available to Daily Sun on Sunday, said that it was unacceptable for any Benue native, and particularly a man who has occupied the highest positions of leadership in the state and beyond, to deliberately seek to denigrate the sanctity of the Tor Tiv institution.
“We state categorically that the Tor Tiv as Chairman, Benue State Council of Chiefs, must be respected without any preconditions by all Benue sons and daughters regardless of their status and locations. This is the practice with every African society, and ours should not under any circumstance be an exception.
The statement was signed by three Benue senators – Gabriel Suswam, Oker Jev and Abba Moro – as well as the seven House of Representatives members, all from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Moro, while reading the statement to reporters on behalf of his other colleagues, described the recent remarks by Akume most “regrettable”.
They added that if allowed to go unchecked, the development could portend grave consequences not only on the image of Benue State but also could set a negative precedent for the present and future generations.
“We, therefore, condemn in very clear and strong terms the Minister’s regrettable utterances against the Tor Tiv, His Royal Majesty, Professor James Ayatse, and we urge Senator Akume to de-escalate the ugly situation in the best interest of our dear state and tender an unreserved apology to Tor Tiv.
“Furthermore, we must sound a note of caution to other elders who ordinarily should be looked up to as peacemakers in times such as this, but who have opted to rather fuel the crisis for whatever reasons.
“We particularly view as highly condemnable, the comments by elder Simon Shango, who lacks the integrity to comment on an issue that has the tendency to divide the state, but chose to take sides with Senator Akume in further castigating the Tor Tiv against whom he levied unfounded allegations of partisanship.
“We urge all Benue sons and daughters to uphold the cherished values of our state, prominent amongst which are respect for constituted authorities, elders as well as the custodians of our cultural heritage – our traditional rulers,” the statement concluded.
