The Village Square

Remembering the victims of the 2001 Tiv Genocide

by

Aonduna Tondu

Monday, October 20, 2003

Today, Nigeria remembers the victims of the Tiv genocide of 2001. May the souls of all those who perished as victims of state terror rest in peace! Exactly two years ago, this country witnessed one of the most horrendous acts of “carefully planned mass killing” in her history. From October 22 to 24 of that year, the Nigerian army which was then under the ministerial supervision of General Theophilus Danjuma (rtd.), invaded Gbeji, Zaki-Biam and surrounding villages in a blood-thirsty onslaught which left over 200 innocent civilian victims dead and hundreds badly wounded or mutilated. Entire communities were devastated in scorched earth attacks which systematically destroyed homes and businesses as well as disrupt major economic activities, levelled public buildings, and generally sought to both decimate and demoralize the Tiv nation. Those acts of barbaric criminality on the part of the Obasanjo regime shocked the world even as they were unequivocally condemned by Nigerians and the international community. 

Much has been said or written on the Tiv Genocide. Civil society groups both in Nigeria and abroad have been in the forefront of the struggle to seek justice for the victims of the senseless massacres by ensuring that those responsible for ordering as well as carrying out the military invasion in Benue are made to pay for their crimes against humanity.  Today,  two years after the Obasanjo-instigated atrocities, the focus should rightly be on not just remembering the victims – dead or alive - , but most especially on justice, reconstruction and the future. These three themes of justice, reconstruction and the future are inextricably linked as far as dealing with the fallout of the Tiv Genocide is concerned. Let us insist on the erection of a monument in memory of the victims of the Tiv Genocide of 2001. A communal endeavour, that monument should be the embodiment of our individual and collective resolve for justice and a secure life for our people. The monument should be built in Gboko, symbol of Tiv unity and identity.  The remembrance monument should anticipate the introduction of Genocide studies in teaching curricula in Benue and elsewhere in the country.

In its widely acclaimed investigation into the Nigerian army massacres in Benue, the human rights body, Human Rights Watch (HRW) , details the events surrounding those atrocities and makes recommendations. Entitled “Military Revenge in Benue: A Population under Attack”, the report indicts the role of the Obasanjo regime in the cold-blooded massacres by soldiers of unarmed civilians. Also indicted are the well-documented abuses perpetrated by military personnel stationed around Katsina-Ala in the aftermath of the 2001 massacres. Those abuses include rape, extortion, looting and other forms of degrading and inhuman conduct. “The testimonies demonstrate that the soldiers were not acting spontaneously or in self-defense, as some government officials claimed, but rather as part of a planned and coordinated operation. They entered towns and villages with the clear intention of killing and destroying. In several instances, commanders gave the signal for soldiers to open fire. In Zaki-Biam, soldiers made the passengers of a bus to disembark, and asked whether there were non-Tivs among them. When the passengers said no, they separated the men from the women, ordered the men to lie down, and started shooting at them. Approximately ten people were killed...”, HRW notes.

The HRW report was subsequently presented before the Justice Opene judicial inquiry set up to look into ethnic conflicts in parts of the North. The search for jusctice and a lasting solution should necessarily include the key recommendations made by the Benue state government and human rights groups like HRW in their submissions to the Justice Opene inquiry the remit of which has pointedly been described as “vague” and extending “well beyond events in Benue to cover the causes of conflicts in several other states, and contains no specific reference to the need to investigate these killings by the military”. Impunity is unacceptable. The determination of the international community to bring to justice those responsible for the grave human rights violations in Benue should be seen as part of the efforts aimed at nurturing democracy and civil society in Nigeria.

A key component of the imperative for justice for the victims of the Tiv Genocide is reconstruction. It is also unacceptable that the devasted communities continue to suffer neglect by government. Reconstruction will take various forms which should include compensation by the federal government for the families of those who lost loved ones.There should also be adequate compensation for those whose businesses, homes and other property were “arbitrarily destroyed by the military”. It is equally important that the rebuilding of public buildings and other infrastructure in the communities concerned be undertaken in a speedy manner. The Odi example is instructive in this regard. Under the caption “Govt rebuilds Odi, NDDC commissions projects”, the Guardian (Lagos), in its Wednesday, May 28, 2003 online edition, reports that the “rebuilding of Odi which was invaded and devastated by federal troops in November 1999 gathered momentum yesterday with the commissioning of some projects in the town by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)”. It is noteworthy that these reconstruction projects in Odi have been described by the Bayelsa state governor as “impressive development projects”. Among the completed Odi rehabilitation projects are the Odi secondary school complex, with “...classroom blocks, three modern science laboratories and six blocks of staff quarters, with two separate residences for the school principal and vice principal”, a “free medical scheme”; 130, 000 litres per day water scheme”. Beyond the details of the Odi reconstruction programme, is the realization that there is a tangible federal input in the reconstruction process there.

Reconstruction pre-supposes a determination to beat the odds of adversity – the refusal by a proud and courageous people to succumb to forces of evil and mischief. It is above all, the promise that never again shall we as a nation allow barbarity impose its ugly face on the Nigerian people. It is the will to confront one’s enemies intelligently and creatively, neither under-estimating them nor falling into the trap of disunity and needless internecine squabbles. At the level of intra-Tiv unity therefore, conscious efforts must be made to strengthen civil society – through viable structures -  by making it less vulnerable to attacks from without. We should harness and develop the means at our disposal for our collective security within the Nigerian nation. By way of example, a situation whereby we continue to remain a relatively voiceless people in the information age cannot augur well for the protection of our interests. We cannot continue to depend on the goodwill of others in the articulation and defence of our collective concerns.  We must secure the present and the future through dialogue and harmonious co-existence with our neighbours – what the Tiv people have always done. At the same time,  as equal citizens, we must insist for the respect of our rights and the rights of Nigerians in general to feel safe wherever they may be, and not be treated as “strangers” or “settlers” in their homes. This is the legacy we will be bequeathing to future generations. This is the most dignified way to remember the victims of the Tiv Genocide of 2001. Only then can we say “never again” and have faith in the power of those words.

What this means is that Nigerians and the international community should not relent in the fight for justice and security for our people. We must  insist that the federal government honour their obligations and responsibilities by seing to it that those of their officers responsible for gross human rights abuses are sufficiently punished. We are both dismayed and saddened that President Obasanjo is said to be refusing to act on the report of the judicial inquiry into “the massacres of civilians by soldiers” in Gbeji, Zaki-Biam and surrounding villages in 2003. In a July 3, 2003 letter to Obasanjo, Mr. Ken Roth, Executive Director of HRW, expressed his organisation’s concern and called on the Obasanjo regime “to put an end to the impunity that has protected for too long those who have violated human rights in Nigeria”. Referring to the regime’s silence on the justice Opene judicial inquiry report - submitted earlier this year - as pertains to the Jukun-Tiv conflict which led to the massacre of over 200 unarmed civilians by the Nigerian army, Mr. Roth said that “to date, no action has been taken against members of the security forces responsible, although you acknowledged responsibilities in general apologies issued almost a year later to the leaders and people of Benue”.

Let us on this occasion of the second anniversary of the Tiv Genocide salute the courage and determination of the Tiv people both at home and in the diaspora. To fellow Nigerians, local and international human rights organisations who have tirelessly worked to sensitize the whole world as to the human rights violations of the Obasanjo regime since 1999, we say that your efforts will not be in vain. Thanks to you all, justice for the victims of the Tiv Genocide will hopefully come sooner instead of later.  

Aonduna Tondu.

New York.

tondua@yahoo.com