MUTA: End Tiv-Jukun bloody clashes – Group tells Buhari govt

Mutual Union of Tiv in America (MUTA) has appealed to the Federal Government to wade into the protracted war between the Tiv and Jukun ethnic groups in Taraba State.

In a statement, yesterday, and signed by Joseph Zume and Simon Kusugh on behalf of MUTA, the group recalled that in 2001, the Tiv diaspora community had cause to write the then President Olusegun Obasanjo over the massive killing of Tiv people by the Jukun militias in Taraba State, adding that Obasanjo’s interventions brought succour, albeit temporarily, to the crisis.

The group, however, alleged that 18 years after the initial presidential assistance, a more vicious pogrom has been visited on the Tiv people in Taraba by the Jukun.

“In 2019, the violence killed scores of Tiv people and caused the displacement of hundreds of thousands from their communities.

“What makes the current crisis deserving of special attention is that the Jukun have not only violently overran about 30 Tiv villages and towns, but they have also renamed them to obliterate their Tiv histories,” MUTA alleged.

It accused the Taraba State of executive meanness, alleging that it denied the Tiv Internally Displaced Persons the courtesy of make-shift camps for temporarily accommodating displaced peoples.

MUTA said it has zero confidence on Taraba State government to resolve the crisis and called on the Federal Government to lead efforts, not only to resolve the displacement of Tiv people in Taraba but also ensure that the threat to their citizenship rights is totally eliminated.