Tiv Traditional Council Orders Herders To Vacate Their Land By End Of May

• Miyetti Allah admits open grazing unsustainable in Benue

• Group flays herders’ attacks in Taraba, demands urgent govt action

To salvage the looming food crisis in Benue State and Nigeria as a whole, the Tiv Area Traditional Council has given herders operating in the Tiv Kingdom till the end of May 2025 to vacate all Tiv lands.

Relatedly, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association has said open grazing is no longer sustainable in the state, assuring the people that it would embrace initiatives to end the practice and ensure peace in Benue rural communities.

This was as the Badamuda Proactive Youths of Karim-Lamido Local Council, Taraba State, condemned deadly attacks allegedly carried out by armed herders in many communities within the council, including Bandawa, Munga Dosso and Ngurore-Jabu Munga.

The traditional council’s ultimatum was issued at the end of an emergency meeting held at the Tor Tiv Palace in Gboko. The meeting, chaired by the Tor Tiv, HRM (Prof.) James Ortese Ayatse was attended by all graded traditional rulers in Tiv Kingdom.

According to the council, incessant attacks and killing of farmers by herders have brought farming activities in the kingdom to a standstill, particularly in Kwande, Katsina-Ala, Logo, Ukum, Guma, Makurdi, Gwer-West, Gwer-East and Buruku local councils.

The council expressed fears that if the situation continues, it would lead to hunger in the kingdom and exacerbate the food security crisis in the country.

In a communique signed by the Secretary of Tiv Area Traditional Council, Shinyi Tyozua, and made available to newsmen yesterday, the council appealed to all herders in Tiv Kingdom to vacate the lands to allow farmers to cultivate their lands.

SECRETARY of MACBAN in Benue, Ibrahim Galma, assured the state that the association would support the initiative to end open grazing to achieve peace in Benue, noting that the association had been part of the project from its pilot stage.

While emphasising the need for collaboration between herders and farmers to realise the project, Galma said: “The position of MACBAN is that we are fully in support of this project from the beginning and we are going to be in this project to the end.”

He spoke at a Stakeholders’ Engagement/Launch of Agropastoral Integration for Peace and Sustainable Development (AIPASD) Project by GoGreen Environmental Health Sustainability Initiatives, convened under the Strengthening Peace and Resilience in Nigeria (SPRiNG), programme.

“Now that the project has been expanded within Guma and Makurdi local councils, key stakeholders in the areas should be involved, and we should also have a local committee comprising the Ardos and traditional rulers to help the pastoralists know how to live peacefully with farmers.”

CHAIRMAN of the youth group, Suleiman Munga, and the Secretary. Ishaya Bandawa, in a statement released to the press, yesterday in Jalingo, expressed concern over what it described as “brutal assaults” that claimed at least 15 lives, left over 20 others injured, and properties valued in the millions of naira destroyed.

According to the group, the violence has triggered mass displacement. It warned that the widespread destruction of farmlands critical to the local economy placed many victims at risk of hunger and economic ruin.

Calling for immediate intervention, the youth group urged Governor Agbu Kefas to establish a high-powered investigative committee to probe the causes of the attacks.