A group, under the aegis of Tiv Youth Organisation, has appealed to the Nasarawa and Federal Government to save the indigenous Tiv people in the state from annihilation.
The President of the group, Barnabas Zayol, made the appeal at a news briefing in Lafia on Thursday. Zayol said that the group resolved to draw the attention of the state and federal governments to the security threat orchestrated by some traditional rulers and herdsmen against their people in Southern Senatorial District of the state.
He said that their people in some villages in Lafia, Doma, Obi, Awe and Keana of the district were being attacked on regular basis and chased out of their ancestral homes.
“What surprised us is the taking over of our ancestral farmlands by the attackers.
“Some of the traditional rulers are saying that we are settlers and non-indigenes,” Zayol said.
The group further alleged that so many Tiv people had been killed in some attacks and their property destroyed. He, however, applauded Gov. Abdullahi Sule for always being proactive on security issues concerning them and appealed to him not to relent.
He also appealed to the governor to fast track the work of a panel set up to look into their issue with a view to implementing the report of the panel.
“Doing so will engender peace and tranquility in the affected areas and help find a lasting solution to the immediate and remote cause of the problem,” he added.
Zayol further called for visible security presence in the rural areas to enable the people to go about their farming and trading activities without fear of attacks.
NEWS AGENCY OF NIGERIA
