HOLD ALAGO RESPONSIBLE FOR ETHNIC HATRED- Tiv Elite Group

The Tiv Integrated Vision(TIV), has unequivocally rejected as misleading, mischievous and baseless claim by the Alago Ikweyi Gbayi Development Union (AIGDU) that Yelwata was an Alago village in Nasarawa and not Benue State. President General of the union, Mr. Gbaden Atsu made known the feelings in a press statement on Monday, August 11th, 2025 in Makurdi.

Accordingly to Atsu, the AIGDU made spurious claims in the release dated June 18, 2025, where they asserted that Yelwata was an Alago village in Nasarawa State, and that Tiv people were settlers in Yelwata without ancestral ties to Keana, Obi, and Awe local government Areas 

The President General described the claim as not only historically inaccurate but also inflammatory and risked further ethnic tensions on the Benue-Nasarawa corridor. 

He acknowledged that the TIV used historical archives, colonial records, and the Tiv’s well-documented heritage to affirm indigent status to counter AIGDU’s distortions, the situation which explains that the historical evidence affirmed the Tiv status and presence in the Benue Valley, including Yelwata, Keana, Obi, and Awe as deeply rooted in historical and archival records, predating claims of the AIGDU. 

He presented key pieces of evidence courtesy of the 1931 Colonial Census of Nigeria: 1931, Vol. II, Northern Provinces, pp. 45–47) and the 1931 Nigerian census, conducted by the British colonial administration which identified clearly the Tiv as most significant population in the Benue Valley, including areas now part of Nasarawa State. 

According to him, the census which recorded the Tiv in the Munchi (Mushi/Tiv) Province, included Yelwata without the mention of Alago or Gwandara communities in the same region and that the omission suggested the Alago were not present in the region during the census to justify challenge to the AIGDU's claim of Alago ownership of the area.  

Mr. Atsu continued "during the colonial era, the region including Yelwata was designated as Munchi Province, a term used by colonial authorities to refer to the Tiv, though the Tiv rejected the term and asserted their identity as Tiv. Similarly, he said, naming of the province after the Tiv reflected the demographic and cultural dominance if the Tiv in the area as indigene." Questioning why the province was not named after the Alago, Atsu contended that the Alago were original inhabitants as records obtained from the Nigeria Gazetteer, Federal Survey Department, 1970) showed. Describing as fabrication, the assertions by AIGDU that Keana was established in 1232 AD and stretched to the North Bank of Makurdi, he asked why the Alago have not been present in the area, or did the Tiv take over the land by conquest and when?

On a related development, he said "the Kwararafa Kingdom, which AIGDU referred to, did not exist in the first instance, since no historical evidence supporting the Alago as the original owners of the region during the claimed period ecisted." 

He stated further that the Tiv historical accounts, validated by the Tiv Traditional Council (TTC), confirmed interactions with groups like the Jukun and Mighili, that came into the area much later. 

According to him, the TTC was the authentic custodian of Tiv tradition and heritage, led by His Royal Majesty, Prof. James Ortese Iorzua Ayatse, the authoritative body with final say on Tiv history any claim not sanctioned by it like the one AIGDU cited, Terngu S.N, IJAPR, 2020 were invalid. 

Mr. Atsu cited Crowder, M., The Story of Nigeria, 1962, pp. 85-90), Ancestral Land Claims, to buttress that Tiv ancestral ties to Keana, Obi, and Awe were indisputable and that as predominantly occupational farmers, the Tiv had cultivated vast farmlands in those areas for centuries as documented in colonial agricultural reports and their integration into Nasarawa State’s political framework, including holding elective and appointive positions; even though, the current position has not been a fair deal reflecting their indigenous status. 

On the strength of this position

he stated that AIGDU’s denial of the ties was a calculated attempt to disenfranchise the Tiv and rewrite history against what was contained in the Northern Nigeria Agricultural Reports, 1920–1930, obtained from the National Archives, Kaduna State. Consequently,

he reiterated that AIGDU’s narrative was provocative and historically inaccurate as well as dangerously risking the escalating ethnic tensions in an already volatile region while the group continuous to undermine the harmonious co-existence between Tiv and Alago communities. 

Stating furthermore that the condolence visit by President Bola Tinubu, the Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule and other key functionaries from Nasarawa State to the Governor Hyacinth Alia, following the tragic killing of over 200 Tiv in Yelwata affirmed Yelwata's status as part of Benue State.

He called on security agencies to investigate AIGDU and hold the group accountable for the continuous hostilities against Tiv communities in Nasarawa State, as well as monitor the Abuja branch of AIGDU believed to be the potential source of ethnic incitement.