Nasarawa Tiv claim ethnic cleansing, accuse Gov Sule of land grab

From Godwin Tsa, Abuja

Tiv community leaders in Nasarawa State have accused Governor Abdullahi Sule of orchestrating a plan to displace them from their ancestral lands under the pretext of agricultural development, alleging ethnic cleansing.

At a press conference in Abuja on Sunday, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Jerry Terkaa Aondo claimed the governor is using state machinery, including the military, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, and key ministries, to demolish Tiv villages and suppress their traditional institutions in Awe, Obi, Keana, and Doma Local Government Areas.

Aondo alleged that villages such as Udugh, Utsuwa, Usula, China, Chabo, Wachi, Tyungu, Uvirkaa, Ugba, Ayarkeke, and others have been demolished, marked for destruction, or faced forced displacement. “In Udugh village, bulldozers arrived with armed soldiers and civil defence operatives to destroy homes, schools, churches, and even graveyards following a visit by the governor on May 4. The people were given no option but to abandon their ancestral homes,” he said. He further claimed that women in Osula village were driven from farmlands, leaving families without livelihoods.

“What is happening is not development. It is ethnic persecution carried out in the name of agriculture,” Aondo said, citing the burning of Gbaghtar village in Doma LGA by armed herdsmen on May 10 as evidence of state-enabled insecurity. He accused traditional rulers, including the Osoho of Agwatashi, Dr. Abubakar Apeshi, of aiding oppression by denying indigene certificates and assisting in destroying Tiv settlements.

The Tiv community called on President Bola Tinubu and the National Security Adviser to intervene urgently, halt demolitions, deploy security to affected areas, and investigate Sule’s role. “The agricultural mandate being touted is a cover. This is about grabbing land, erasing our identity, and commercialising our lives and properties for personal gain,” Aondo said, warning that unchecked actions could spark wider communal unrest. He noted that letters sent to the governor, state officials, and security agencies have gone unanswered. “I cannot practise law or sleep well because of the killing of Tiv people in Nasarawa State,” he added.

As of this report, Governor Sule has not officially responded to the allegations.