The Mdzough U Tiv, the umbrella body of Tiv in Nigeria has described as a poor parody allegations published in some sections of the media that Tiv militia in the early hours of Sunday attacked and killed 73 cows with two persons declared missing in Kadarko, Nasarawa State.
Chief Edward Ujege, president-general of the group, made the rebuttal in a press statement issued on Monday, January 29, 2018 in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
He described the report as a mockery on his people who have been traumatised and were being sacked from their homes with no solution in sight, stressing that it remained unfortunate that dirty politics was being played to divert attention from the continued attacks on Tiv communities by Fulani herdsmen.
He said: ‘’The attention of the Mdzough u Tiv has been drawn to reports that a purported Tiv militia attacked and killed 73 cows in Kadarko, Nasarawa State while two persons were also alleged to be missing as a result of the attacks.
‘’This report is no doubt a mockery of one of the saddest periods in the lives of the Tiv people, Benue and indeed the entire Nigeria when 73 people including children, pregnant women and old men murdered by Fulani herdsmen on New Year’s Day 2018 were given mass burial in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
‘’It is very unfortunate that the fabricators of the phantom attacks in Nasarawa State have chosen to further ridicule and add insult to the injury and pain of the Tiv people by seeking to equate the same number of cows with those murdered in the New Year Day attacks on communities in Logo and Guma local government areas in Benue State,’’ he said.
The group added that the Tiv people consider the allegations as the height of insensitivity, brutality and impunity that a group of people will reduce the precious lives of human beings to the same level and status with herds of cattle.
According to Mdzough u Tiv, the reports of the alleged Nasarawa attacks and display of cattle in the palace of an emir was reprehensible, condemnable and unacceptable to all right thinking members of the human race.
It concluded that ‘’this poor parody, which is part of a larger conspiracy script to downplay the heinous crime committed against Benue State by the Fulani herdsmen and their sponsors and must be rejected by all. It is intended to further mock the families of the dead. This cannot be accepted,’’ he stated.
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