2 Tiv farmers killed as tension rises in Nasarawa

Two Tiv siblings have been hacked to death by unknown persons in a resurgence of killings in Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.

The incident happened in Kadarko, a part of some Tiv communities which shares border with Benue State.

The family of the slain 23-year-old man, and 25-year-old woman found them brutally murdered on a farm land on Thursday morning, after a long wait for their return home.

The Nasarawa State Police Command confirmed the killing of two Tiv farmers, saying they were killed a day earlier in the farm.

ASP Ramhan Nansel, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), confirmed the development to newsmen in Lafia on Thursday.

Nansel said a complaint was lodged at the Kadarko police division over the incident.

“Yesterday, at about 1700 hours, there occurred a farmer, herder clash at Yamadaga village, a border community between Benue and Nasarawa state.

“Consequently, this morning at about 7am, the corpse of one Terngu Nguuma a female and one Richard Sunnymon a male were found in the bush at the village,” he said.

He disclosed that following the complaint, the police command quickly dispatched a joint team comprising the police mobile force, special anti robbery squad, counter terrorism unit and conventional police personnel led by the Police Divisional Officer of Kadarko Division.

“The situation was brought under control while joint patrol is ongoing to restore normalcy to the affected area.

“The Commissioner of Police, CP Bola Longe, has also directed the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of criminal investigation department to carry out investigation to ascertain the circumstances surrounding the incident and bring the perpetrators to book,” he added.

Mallam Usman Dodo II, Osokadarko of Kadarko community who also confirmed the incident, however, said information available to him indicated that the killing of the farmers was a reprisal attack by some herdsmen who were also attacked earlier by some Tiv indigenes.

He, however, assured that a meeting for all ethnic groups in the community will be convened on Friday, September 2020, to unravel the root causes of incident.

A lawyer and community leader, Barrister Chahur Titus, who also spoke to newsmen, described the killing as unfortunate but said so far, no group or persons have been directly accused of the incident.

“But the nature and manner in which the victims were slaughtered is similar to what happened to some Tiv people here sometime in 2016 when the Fulani herdsmen attacked the Tivs in Kadarko.

“We are waiting for the outcome of police investigation because we have reported the matter to them. We have also informed military personnel sent to this place to take care of the situation before it escalates into something else,” he said.

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