The Mdzough U Tiv (MUT), the apex social-economic and political
development of the Tiv Nation, has warned Fulani herdsmen to stop
claiming ownership of Tiv land.
The group said the recent claim by the leadership of the Fulani
Cattle Breeders Association –Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore that they founded
Tiv land was untrue and mischievous.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Edward Ujege, the
President-General of the group called on all Tiv natives to rise and
protect their land from intruders.
Ujege said the claim by Fulani herdsmen was not only inciting and
bellicose but full of half truths and ahistorical; intended to aggravate
the already challenging security situation in Tivland, Benue State and
Nigeria as a whole.
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According to him, “The assertion by the group that the Fulanis were
the original inhabitants of the Benue valley is absolutely ridiculous,
preposterous and complete falsehood. There is neither historical,
archeological nor anthropological evidence to indicate that the Fulanis
ever inhabited the Benue Valley at any time before the advent of the Tiv
people. What is a veritable and verifiable historical fact is that the
forces of the 1804 Islamic Jihad led by the Fulani cleric, Usman Dan
Fodio, were overwhelmingly defeated at the Ushongo Hills in Tivland.
That explains why Islam could not be imposed on the Tiv people nor Emirs
appointed to rule Tivland as was the case elsewhere in Nigeria.
“The recent claim by Miyetti Allah KautalHore that they were in the
Benue Valley before the Tiv is not only ridiculous, it is a tissue of
lies concocted from the pit of hell to support a desperate and
diabolical claim on Tiv ancestral lands. Knowing who the Fulani are and
their penchant for changing historical narratives to benefit their
designs, we are not surprised. They have severally attempted to hoist a
post Jihad narrative of Northern Nigerian identity that seeks to
conscript Northern minorities into a monolithic North in which they are a
mere footstool for the caliphate.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Fulani claim of having settled in the Benue Valley before the Tiv is a lie for several reasons:
“The Fulani attempt to change the narrative at this belated time
confirms our suspicion that their interest in the Benue Valley is more
than the grass they seek for their cattle. The attempt is a devious
strategy to secure usufructuary rights to Tiv ancestral lands to be able
to exploit the political and religious opportunities that come with
such rights. We challenge the Fulani to tell the world where and when
the Tiv displaced them in order to settle in the Benue Valley.”
