A socio-cultural group, the Alago Ikweyi Ggayi Development Union, has called on the Nasarawa State Government to urgently intervene in the ongoing killings resulting from a land dispute between the Alago and Tiv farmers in Keana Local Government Area of the state.
The group warned that the situation could escalate into a full-blown war across the state.
It was earlier reported that a crisis erupted around the Nasarawa-Benue border communities, which are home to indigenous Alago and Tiv farmers.
The conflict had left four people dead and several others injured.
While speaking at a press conference in Lafia, the state capital, on Thursday, the President of the group, Mohammed Oshafu, raised the alarm over an alleged plan by Tiv farmers to forcefully take over ancestral lands belonging to the Alago community.
Oshafu accused Tiv farmers of bringing their kinsmen from Benue and Taraba states to Nasarawa State to incite trouble and oppress the Alago farmers, leading to daily humiliations in their farmlands.
“Before the farming season in Keana, the Alago people usually clear their farmlands in preparation. But this time, Tiv farmers emerged, stopping and threatening our people, claiming the land is not part of Nasarawa State,” Oshafu stated.
He added that Alago people faced intimidation and molestation, and were forcefully taken to Daudu in Benue State, and illegally detained in local cells.
According to him, despite efforts by the Osana of Keana (Traditional ruler) to ensure peaceful coexistence between the Keana and Benue border communities, the Tiv people continued to provoke and cause problems.
“The recent incident on Monday, June 24, 2024, saw three Alago young men, all graduates who had ventured into agriculture, attacked and taken into the forest. One victim, Musa Agade, died instantly, while the other two survived with severe injuries,” he said.
Oshafu stated that the unprovoked violence threatened not only the Alago community but also the peace, stability, and food security of the state, and appealed to the Nasarawa State Government to find a lasting solution to the killings and continuous oppression of the Alago people.
Reacting to the allegations, the President of the Tiv Development Association in the state, Simeon Apusu, insisted that Tiv farmers were not troublemakers and did not resort to violence to settle disputes.
Apusu lamented that the situation had displaced hundreds of Tiv farmers in Keana town and nearby villages.
He called on both the state and the federal governments to expedite the ongoing boundary demarcation process between Nasarawa and Benue states to provide a permanent solution to the land disputes.
Governor Abdullahi Sule, speaking through his Commissioner for Humanitarian, Special Duties, and NGOs, Margaret Otaki Elayo, expressed concern over the incident during a visit to the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, camps in the area.
Sule promised to investigate the root causes of the crisis and reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to securing the lives and property of residents across the 13 LGAs of the state.