Levi's tv

To the executive governor of Taraba state.

For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews (Tiv) from another place;

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TARABA TIV YOUTHS DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION (TATIYODA) WORLDWIDE

The Taraba Tiv Youths Development Association (TATIYODA) Worldwide condemns in the strongest terms the renewed wave of ethnically motivated violence, mass displacement, systematic land grabbing, and coordinated persecution of Tiv people across Southern Taraba, particularly in Takum and Wukari Local Government Areas. What is unfolding today is not mere conflict, it is a brutal campaign of extermination, driven and sustained by Jukun militia elements with the active support, silence, and political cover of the Taraba State Government.

In the last two weeks alone, Tiv communities in Chanchanji Ward, Takum LGA, have suffered heavily coordinated attacks that claimed over 15 lives in a single stretch. The victims include Aseer Adekpe, Usha Ukwechia, Chiahemba Igba, Kumater Igo, Suuhter Igo, Aondofa Angaajo, Aondonengen Apinen, Linus Iorkaa, Aondosoo Shachia, Ortile Ajibee, Moorga Awuhe, Felix Moorga, Terdue Ayankaa, Aondoakura Kurave, Igyunmtu Above, and Aondoana Saalu. Entire settlements such as Tornyi, Unom, Sati, Agia, Iorbume, Tse Uhembe, Tse Ugbaa, Yongogba, Gidin, Tse Adam, and Apiita have been wiped out, leaving behind smoldering ruins and families torn apart.

This widespread carnage is being executed in a manner that bears every hallmark of a state-enabled ethnic purge. The fact that the Governor has remained completely silent, just as he has always done whenever the Tiv people are attacked, can no longer be dismissed as negligence. It is a deliberate governmental posture of indifference, complicity, and tacit endorsement of the atrocities being carried out against the Tiv population. The killers have drawn boldness from this silence.

The situation has worsened following the recent declaration of Hon. Benjamin Bako as the winner of the Taraba State Local Government Council elections for Takum LGA. His elevation to this office is not only alarming but dangerous, given his widely documented history of anti-Tiv rhetoric, inflammatory statements, and consistent deployment of hate propaganda against Tiv communities. His victory has emboldened hostile elements and served as a green light to intensify their campaign to erase Tiv presence from Takum.

TATIYODA further notes with alarm that this violent cleansing is not confined to Takum. In Wukari LGA, the Governor’s hometown over 90% of Tiv populations have been violently uprooted, their villages burned, and their ancestral lands forcibly seized and allegedly distributed among individuals benefiting from the bloodshed. Same thing is happening in Ibbi and Donga LGA of the state. This is nothing short of a calculated policy of ethnic replacement, engineered to permanently eliminate Tiv identity from these areas.

The presence of the Nigerian Army in Amadu, Takum, has provided no protection to the Tiv people. Instead, the attackers operate freely, with villagers repeatedly reporting suspicious passivity and selective inaction by soldiers. The call by the state government to establish another military barracks at Ikyaior is viewed with justified distrust, given the repeated history of armed forces looking away or looking on as Tiv lives are extinguished.

These patterns which include mass killings, forced displacement, destruction of settlements, seizure of ancestral lands, political complicity, and enforced silence collectively amount to genocide, as defined by the 1948 UN Convention. The intent is clear:
To depopulate, disempower, dispossess, and eventually eradicate the Tiv people from Southern Taraba.

TATIYODA Worldwide extends deep condolences to all families who have lost loved ones in these horrific attacks. We mourn with every household shattered by this violence and stand firmly with all displaced Tiv communities.

We call for the immediate deployment of neutral and accountable security forces, an urgent international investigation into the genocide unfolding in Southern Taraba, the arrest and prosecution of all political and militia actors involve including Hon. Benjamin Bako
and comprehensive humanitarian assistance to displaced Tiv families. We further demand that the Governor publicly condemn these killings and demonstrate real commitment to protecting every citizen, not selectively shielding his own kinsmen (Jukun ) while Tiv communities are hunted down.

The Tiv people of Taraba State refuse to be erased. TATIYODA Worldwide will continue to speak, resist, and expose every effort to destroy our people until justice is done.

Signed:
Comr. Ephraim Tordue Kumaga
President, Taraba Tiv Youths Development Association (TATIYODA) Worldwide.