 FEATURE ARTICLE |
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Zaiyol Karl (EMAIL) Minneapolis, USA Monday, October 29, 2001 
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Fact about Tiv-Fulani conflicts – A Rejoinder |
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While there has been but only one Tiv riot which targeted only Tiv people in 1964, there have been thousands of Fulani riots dating back to 1804. Unlike the Tiv riot, these Fulani riots are routinely orchestrated for the purpose of killing people of other tribes to foster Fulani expansionist agenda and tighten their grip on control of the Federal Government. - the government which they do not contribute to its purse. This topic could have been fully exploited without involving others because every information relating to violent hooliganism in Nigeria is resident in the far North, with its headquarters in Kano, but the authors chose to attack Tiv people as if there was a single Tiv individual involved in that coup. For the purpose of clarity, one would wish Mr. Amfani and Agya to respond to the followings and tell Nigerians whether Tiv people have historically caused more problems for Nigeria than Fulanis. If the Tiv riot in 1964 led to the 1966 coup in Nigeria, two years after the fact, then, what led to the Jihad war in 1804? Was it another Tiv riot that led to that superego adventure? Was it a Tiv riot that led to the Maitatsine in Maiduguri in 1982? Was it a Tiv riot that led to the Kano massacre of Ibos by Fulanis in 1953? Was it a Tiv riot that led to the Jimeta Massacre of non-Muslims by Fulanis in 1984? Was it a Tiv riot that led to the Gombe massacre of Christians by Fulanis in 1985? Was it a Tiv riot that led to the Katsina, Kano, and Bauchi massacres of Southerners by Fulanis in 1991? Was it a Tiv riot that led to the Zango-Kataf killings of Minorities by Fulanis in 1987? Was it a Tiv riot that led to the Funtua killings by Fulanis in 1993? Was it a Tiv riot that led to the Kano killings by Fulanis in 1994? Was it a Tiv riot that led to the sharia killings in Kaduna in 2000? Was it a Tiv riot that introduced the sharia Edict in Zamfara and across Fulani controlled states in 2000? Was it a Tiv riot that led to the massacre in Kano on behalf of Osama Bin Laden in 2001? Was it a Tiv riot that led to the massacre of native Biroms in Jos in 2001? Was it a Tiv riot that led to the massacre of Tiv Farmers by Nomadic Fulanis in Shendam in 2001? Was it a Tiv riot that led to the massacre of Tiv Farmers in Lafia by Nomadic Fulanis in 2001? This not an exhaustive list of incidents of violent hooliganism orchestrated and administered by Fulanis, with the rest of Nigerians on the receiving end of it. If none of these has ever resulted to a coup, then why was the Tiv riot that was never directed against other ethnic groups but to Tivs themselves enough reason to cause a coup two years after it took place? These are the people who culturally take pleasure in carnage and savagery due to the looting opportunities created by the situation, now mischievously seeking to archive their tradition of violence to set a stage to discuss Tiv riot of 1964. I guess you will never have the opportunity to do that. There are records dating back to pre-colonial days attesting to the social, religious and political hooliganism of Fulanis, including an attempt to colonize Nigeria through a Jihad war. I guess, if their memories are neither selective nor faulty, Mr. Amfani and Mr. Agya would recall from elementary history of Northern Nigeria that, that Jihad war was defeated by the Tiv people. But that is a topic for another discussion. Traditionally, a coup represents a vote of no confidence in the administration of an incumbent government, not the behavior of the governed. The reason for the coup was incompetence, and corrupt leadership of the Fulani oligarchy. It is on record that, prior to 1964, beside UMBC elected legislators, no single Tiv man was neither in the Federal Government nor the Regional Administration of Northern Nigeria, both dominated and headed by Fulani social nihilists, who ruled both the North and Nigeria to a dead-end. Usually, building government infrastructures, medical, educational, and utility facilities along Fulani controlled Provinces with money earned solely from other parts of the country. While the Fulani led Government of Northern Nigeria imposed the highest poll taxes in Tiv Division, there were no poll taxes at all in Sokoto and other Fulani controlled provinces, though, they contributed nothing to government purse. Even within the Benue province, higher taxes were imposed on Tiv Division than on any other Division in the Province. Fulani agents disguised as government officials routinely went about beating people and removing doors and other valuable belongings due to their inability to pay taxes. By 1966, the year of the coup, poll taxes imposed on Tiv Division was Four Pounds per adult. I guess, Mr. Amfani and Angya, would tell Nigerians how much was tax burden of their parents in the year 1966. Up to the present day, Benue State is not on National grid, but Chad and Niger are on National grid in Nigeria because they are Fulani countries, so, they have advantage over non-Fulani tax paying states in Nigeria. If protestation against social discrimination, injustice, and systematic marginalization perpetrated by the ruling Fulanis on the Tiv people is worse than a pattern of violent religious hooliganism by the Fulanis, then be it. There will always be coups in Nigeria. "IT is not out of place at this juncture, to note that the present conflict is bifurcated. The Tivs are fighting the Fulani whom they regard as mere obstructions to their agenda. The Jukun are the main object, who should be swallowed or driven out of their land. Thus, while the Fulanis are fighting to revenge on the loss of their lives and property, the Jukun are fighting against Benue State government that want to take over Jukun land along with the central zone of Taraba state to form the basis for their demand for a second state". - - - Amfani and Agya. The disjointed argument here to portray Jukuns and Fulanis as victims of Tiv people is an outright fabrication of the situation. The Fulanis started killing Tiv farmers in Shendam, Plateau State, the state in which Fulanis are not known to be inhabitants. This started in February of 2000. Usually they would come in the midnight and kill Tiv farmers while they were asleep. When Plateau State Government moved against them, they fled to Nassarawa State. Soon after their arrival in Nassarawa State, they resumed their midnight killing of Tiv farmers under the guise of land dispute. But the Fulanis were never part of Benue province, and never should have owned any land in Nassarawa State, which was a division in Benue province. When it became apparent that, these troublemakers, never even lived in that state, they moved to Taraba where there was an existing land dispute between Tivs and Jukuns. One point I must continue to emphasize is, Wukari Division, which was part of Benue province was inhabited by both Jukuns and Tivs, the only two tribes whoever occupied the area. There were no Fulanis in Wukari Division, so the question of Fulanis owing any land to fight about in Taraba does not arise. So, what is it, that the Fulanis are fighting to revenge, when in-fact, they have been the people on a killing spree of Tiv farmers from Shendam to Lafia, and now to Taraba? The notion that Taraba State does not belong to Tiv people is not only weird, but it actively questions the intelligence of the authors of that write-up. Since when have states in Nigeria become exclusively demarcated tribal affair? Assuming the notion conveyed by the authors were true, how would that then explain the presence of Fullanis in Benue, Plateau, Taraba, Nassarawa, Kwara, Adamawa and other states in which they constitute a tiny minority and yet nobody is fighting them to leave for Sokoto where they are a majority? How does that again explain the presence of Jukun villages in Benue State where they are a tiny minority? States were created for people who lived together in a given location over an extended period of time to form administrative units, not tribal units. That being the fact with Tivs and Jukuns in the former Wukari Division, now part of Taraba state, Tivs are no less defacto residents of Taraba state than Jukuns. And there is nothing neither Fulanis nor Danjuma can do about it. The present wave of destruction of Tiv people by the Federal Government on behalf of Fulanis is not going to uproot Tiv people who lived in that part of the country for centuries back to Benue State. Any further attempt by the Federal Government of Nigeria to support that Fulani agenda will mark the end of Nigeria as we now know it. I guarantee that. "They feel that since Kano, Borno and Sokoto States were split into more states, they too deserve a second state, which can only come from their occupied areas of Taraba State The involvement of Benue State government in the previous and present crisis seems o lay credence to this notion" - - - - - Amfani and Agya Could it be that, the presence of Cattle Fulanis outside Sokoto State signifies their desire for more states? Of-course, the Jihad War and their nomadic propensity are enough reasons to suspect that. After turning the far North into a desert through lazy agricultural habits of heavy animal and human mobility in search of natural pastures, it was expected they would turn to the Middle Belt with their expansionist tendencies to cause trouble over land acquisition. Because it was expected, nobody is surprised at the fast pace of concurrent attacks on Tiv farmers in four states, which culminates with the secret deployment of the Nigerian Army in support of that expansionist agenda. "Soon after Tivs attacked Chonku to trigger the conflict with the Jukun, Governor George Akume made a swift visit to Jootar and trespassed into Chonku which is in Taraba State. He dismantled the security mounted there after showering tirade of abuses on the security agents. Since his visit the road from Wukari to Zaki Biam has remained very dangerous as Tiv rioters kill and rob commuters along the road. Other Nigerians in Kyado and Zaki Biam are also harassed and killed. Thus the action of Benue State governor is not only an act of aggression but also a disruption of the security of that area. He should learn to desist from such misadventures so that he is not embarrassed in future" - - - - - - - Amfani and agya Probably, Amfani and Agya want to rewrite what we all know, that, the Benue and Taraba state governments signed a 10-point security agreement during Ernest Shonekan’s administration in 1992. After that administration was overthrown, the succeeding administration in Taraba refused to implement the 10-point security agreement, probably at the urging of Warlord, General Danjuma who was known to have opposed the agreement. The visit of Benue State Governor to Taraba State was to urge his counterpart there to implement the security agreement the two states had signed. It had nothing to do with dismounting of illegal roadblocks in Taraba, as he has no jurisdiction in that part of the country. All along, this violence was only in Taraba, between Tiv people in Taraba and the Jukuns. It was not even about border struggle. It was a fight initiated by the Taraba state government in collusion with Fulanis to expel residents of Taraba who happen to be Tiv by tribe. According to them, Tiv people are not supposed to live in Taraba regardless of whether they had been there before colonization. Therefore, to now suggest that, there had been any fight in Benue cities prior to the illegal deployment of the Army in Benue State, is a pathological lie. That is why the question of who deployed soldiers secretly to Benue State two months ago arose. If they were legally deployed for any peacekeeping missions, they would have been stationed in Taraba where there was violence rather than in Benue State. It is time for Warlord, General Danjuma to explain his criminal role in this matter. He is not above the law. He had a reputation of a coup plotter while in the military. As a civilian, he has gained a legendary notoriety as a warlord. Recently, he was indicted by Oputa panel for criminally instigating tribal wars between Jukuns and Kuteb on one hand, and between Jukuns and Tivs on the other in 1991. Effectively, we are dealing here with a hardened taliban-type criminal, a terrorist for that matter, who should have been in jail and not in the Defense Ministry. "What started as intra-clannish conflict in Benue State, now extended to nomadic Fulani Taraba and Benue states. In fact they have now extended it to any person other than Tivs. We have seen it recently in Nasarawa State" - - - - - Amfani and Agya Since when has Shendam become part of Benue State? News of when the Fulanis first attacked Tiv farmers in Shendam in February 2000, and killed 23 people is still on achieves of even international media like BBC, CNN, et al. Their victims were asleep when they invaded their village in the night and set their houses on fire. What could be more criminal than that? It is a matter for regret that, the most backward people in all facets of life in a society would assume they have a divine right to rule, live anywhere in the country and kill at random. Once they are opposed, they become as wild as lions, and go on a killing spree. This hooliganism must stop. If it does not stop, the Tiv people will fight it to the end. The Fulanis do not have anymore rights to live in Nigeria and in any state than the Tivs or any other tribe. If the Tiv people have to leave Adamawa, Plateau, Taraba and Nassarawa for Benue State, then, of course, all Fulanis in every State in Nigeria will have to go back to Sokoto. That is our position and it is non-negotiable. "The present democratic dispensation is only two years old. Would it be allowed to complete its life span. Is history repeating itself? The Tivs' antics must be nibbed in the bud. To be forewarned is to be forearmed" - - - - - - - Amfani and Agya But how is introduction of sharia Edict in a multi-religious society democratic? Since inception of democracy in 1999, how many incidents of religious violence have occurred in Fulani-controlled states in the far North? And how many people have died in the process? Most of these demonstrations target people of other tribes for execution not Fulanis. This same pattern of ruthless behavior and backwardness in education is exhibited in all African countries where Fulanis constitute a majority of the population, and are the ruling class. In cameroun, they dominate in politics because of their population, but are backward in education, and have been killing southern Camerounians who feed them, for the fear that, they might use their education to take over government. They want farmers to give up their farmlands to Fulanis for cattle rearing. Can’t these people develop modern ways of feeding their animals rather than depend on pushing them across the Continent in search of natural pastures, and destroying crops and farmlands in the process? We can see similar patterns in Chad, Niger, Central African Republic, Upper Volta, senegal, Somalia, Mauritania, you name it. These countries dominated by Fulanis, are not by accident, the most backward in the world. And there is no hope they will ever improve because Fulanis have a pathological propensity to be as wild as lions, and to kill even without provocation. Their lackadaisical attitude towards education and change has prohibitively confined their way of life to the level of the early man. And there are chances they will continue to be barbaric and to feed their animals the way the early man did. "We wish to appeal to the Federal Government to ensure the demarcation of the 1923/24 boundary between Taraba and Benue States which has been drawn already. This has been the major issue creating conflict between citizens of Taraba State and Benue State residing in these border areas" - - - - - - -Amfani and Agya The fact of the matter is, there were no states in Nigeria in 1923/24, therefore, the question of any boundaries between Benue and Taraba did not arise in 1923/24 as posited by the authors. In 1923/24, while Benue existed both as a River and as a Province, sharing boundaries with other Provinces, Taraba was just a River with no boundaries to demarcate. So where did these authors get the Taraba boundaries in 1923/24? This is again, the kind of liars we are dealing with in Nigeria – people who are burnt out of shape to get their way through fabrications.  |
here is nothing indeed further from the truth than the suggestion that, somehow, the actions of Tiv people in 1964 precipitated the 1966 coup in Nigeria. This hallucination to rewrite history by Jubril Amfani and Joel Agya is clearly a mischievous attempt by the Fulani-mafia to divert attention from the satanic role of Fulanis in systematically looting and rendering Nigeria ungovernable for centuries, dating back to pre-colonialism. Captain Gbulie whom they have quoted as an authority and source of their information is not an authority on Nigerian history, neither is he a political scientist with a specialization in Nigerian politics. At best, Mr. Gbulie is/was simply a coup plotter who testified basically to serve his throat, but his submission was accordingly refuted by the Middle Belt contingent in the same documents they selectively quoted. This selective use of documents again demonstrates outrageous manipulative tendencies of the Fulanis to fool and confuse Nigerian public in a bid to loot amidst socio-political chaos arising in the wake of such confusion.