Governor Abdullahi Sule

NKRUMAH BANKONG-OBI/Lafia

Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has called on the Tiv and Alago communities to shelve all hostilities while a solution is found to the issues at stake. Governor Sule made the call at the expanded state executive council meeting in Lafia, the State capital. He gave an insight into the various strategies being deployed to bring the communal clash between the Tiv and Alago to a heel. “I had asked my Commissioner for Special Duties and Security to rush to Keana. The first meeting I had was with the security agencies. They are on their way now to resolve the matter between the Tiv and the Alago,” he explained.

He also hinted that a he is co-opting his Benue State counterpart, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia to intervene and resolve the dispute. “I have been trying to get the governor of Benue State on line also to intervene and let’s see the end of the problem,” Sule noted. The land dispute which gave rise to the fight is situated on the Nasarawa/Benue boundary.
The strive, the governor said, is a dent on the reputation of the State which has recorded tremendous success in recent times. He said the things that have been achieved are results of the subsisting peace in the state.

“Unfortunately, it is a situation we can’t continue like this because Nasarawa continues to receive a lot of good news coming to us in all directions, one thing after another. And it is coming partly because we are living in peace with one another. The day that we indicate that it is opposite, it will be difficult.

On Tuesday, news filtered that about eleven people had died as a result of the fight. Philip Nongu, President of Mzough U Tiv, Nasarawa State chapter confirmed the incident, alleging that more than eleven Tiv people, among whom were students of the Federal Government Girls College, Keana, were murdered and others still in their hostels, unable to come out.
A witness told a news platform that four people were killed, two on both sides. He also said many houses were razed down and some set alight. Many people, he reported were also injured.