No less than 20 people are said to have been killed in a violent battle on Sunday between residents of the Yache-Ijiegu community in Cross River State‘s Yala LGA and Tiv settlers from Benue State over unresolved boundary issues.
The exact number of casualties has yet to be confirmed, but women and children are expected to outnumber men.
Visitodell learnt that there have also been numerous reports of people suffering from gunshot wounds and machete slashes.
Several sources stated that more residences on both sides had been set ablaze.
According to Augustine Odey, a source in Yache, hostilities began on Thursday afternoon when their son, Ayeku Godwin Ochuole, went to his farm, where he was allegedly ambushed and killed by Tiv assailants.
According to him, the encounter led in the kidnapping of at least nine more people who sustained varying degrees of bullet wounds.
The violent boundary skirmishes allegedly began approximately two months ago when Tiv settlers allegedly refused to continue paying royalties for their stay on Yache grounds.
The Tiv immigrants claimed that they were being extorted forcibly by the indigenous and that they had no other place to call home after living there for over 100 years, intermarried, and owned property.
Tiv chiefs, including Mr Jacob Uswa, who said he was born 54 years ago and was appointed chief on the land when his father died, claimed that the Yache youths had continued to launch surprise attacks from the bushes, killing their own people.
“We can’t fold our arms and watch them continue to exterminate our people. We have to defend ourselves. They usually hide in the bushes to launch attacks. This is also our land. We are also from Cross River State,” he claimed
‘My father and his own father lived in this community for over 100 years. And I have lived here for over 50 years.
“I am surprised to hear from Yache people that we are not from here.
“We are indigenes of Cross River State, not Benue State. Despite this, we had succumbed to obeying their demands to pay royalties on lands and houses.”
According to him, it was the Yache guys who came to collect royalties in July 2023 that ignited the confrontation, which has continued uninterrupted despite government interventions and military involvement.
Augustine Odey, a Yache youth leader, has accused the governments of both states of being inactive in the face of increasing killings and instability in Yache.
He further claimed that, in addition to the soldiers ordered to protect the peace, they have proof that additional ‘armed soldiers’ collaborated with the Tiv settlers to inflict mayhem on them.
“The Cross River State and Benue State governments have continued to act like toothless bulldogs, allowing their citizens to die in a crisis they should have put an end to.
“The latest of the attacks resumed on Thursday through Sunday when the Tiv people of Benue State, accompanied by the military, successfully penetrated the Ijiegu-Yache Community and shot at Ijiegu people who went to farm. This resulted in the gruesome killing of an indigene of Ijiegu-Yache.”
In response, one of the security team’s leaders, identified as Lt. Alex and Lt. H. J. Enoibor, stated that they had done all possible to restore calm to Yache, but that “Yache boys constantly indulge in attacks.” The Tivs have listened to us and restrained themselves.
“They killed one of my men yesterday, and I had to frown at it. The Yache boys would even move to the other side of Benue State, where soldiers are also keeping watch to attack.
“They have made our peace efforts difficult. We had thought we wouldn’t be here up to two weeks, but it’s going to months now. They should know that war is not good at all. Yache cannot withstand the Tivs.
“We have scheduled to hold a joint peace meeting with all stakeholders on Wednesday, hoping that it will finally bring about an amicable settlement.”
