TIDA reveals number of Tiv people killed by herdsmen in Nasarawa

A socio-cultural organisation for Tiv indigenes in Nasarawa state, the
Tiv Development Association, TIDA, has disclosed that no fewer than 50
persons have lost their lives to attacks by herdsmen on communities in
Nasarawa South senatorial district, adding that 83 villages have been
razed with property including farmlands and economic trees believed to
be worth billions of naira destroyed since January.

President of the association, Mr. Boniface Ifer, who made this known
at the weekend while speaking with journalists in Lafia, the state
capital, disclosed that all the affected persons and villages are of
the Tiv extractions, as he wondered why it is being claimed in some
quarters that his people were not being killed.

According to him, "We don't know the exact number of causalities
because we still have cases of missing persons whom we assumed are
dead but because of security reasons, we cannot organise a search to
recover their bodies.

"I want to clear the air where some people are denying that there is
crisis in Nasarawa State and that the people in the Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp are all from Benue State. I want to
debunk that statement. Let me tell you that over 50 Tiv sons and
daughters in Nasarawa State are already dead as a result of these
herdsmen attacks.

Ifer disclosed that the military and police deployed in Nasarawa State
on the orders of President Muhammadu Buhari had arrived the state but
refused to move to the affected areas where people were being killed
on a daily basis and houses being burnt down.

"We don't know why the military refuse to move to the affected areas.
We want the whole world to know that the military deployed in Nasarawa
State have been stationed in one place in Lafia," he said.

Areas which have been worse hit by the attacks and killings include:
Keana, Obi, Awe, Doma and Lafia.