Vexing Issues from the Selection and Coronation of TOR TIV V

Please Read: Choosing the Next Tor Tiv

Msugh ne chi

Finally, the TIV nation heaved a collective sigh of relief when the Traditional Council congregated in Gboko and selected Prof. James Ayatse as Tor Tiv V on December 20, 2016.

His coronation is scheduled for March 4 2017 at the J.S Tarka Stadium in Gboko and already grand plans Have been finalized for his investiture with the symbol of office, but there are many vexing issues that must be addressed in the aftermath of his selection and before his coronation:

RULES AND REGULATIONS:

1.         His elevation to the stool exposed the lack of decisive leadership and responsiveness to crises situations as it took the Tiv nation thirteen months to select TOR TIV V after the death of the immediate past Tor Tiv who passed away on November 11, 2015. It also took a long time before Tor Tiv IV was finally laid to rest. 

2.         It was generally accepted that the ipusu order were likely to provide the successor to the late Tor Tiv, but the Ipusu did not reach a quick decision as to who their candidate would be and no less than eight noble sons of Ipusu contested for the position with Ayatse finally emerging as the flagbearer for the Ipusu. After that clan contest, Ayatse was pitched against the notable sons of the other clans including Prof Daniel Saror, Prof Benedict Shinku, and Andrew Wombo, a lawyer to contest for the stool. Ayatse eventually emerged TOR TIV after votes were openly cast and the tally and the number of votes over his co-contestants publicly declared instead of by a secret ballot where the votes are cast internally and the new Tor Tiv presented to the public. In the future, these processes even at the primary stage must be shielded from the public, the conclaves must he held in secret and the winner presented by the kingmakers of the various clans, never again must the public be aware of who is contesting as much as possible to prevent the degenerate level of politicking and accusations of favoritism in the selection of the next Tor Tiv.

3.         There appeared to be a drive to select the Tor Tiv from the academic community as each clan presented intellectuals to level the playing field to secure the stool and beside Wombo academic credentials seemed to be the base line factor in fielding candidates. This narrow pool of candidates severely limits the caliber of candidates that could have been presented for consideration and in the future efforts need to be made to present a broader selection of candidates based on other factors such as command of the Tiv language, engaging personality, charisma, years of residency in tiv land, history of advocacy on Tiv issues, philanthropy, etc.

4.         The final selection of candidates including the eventual Tor Tiv appear not to be pre-disposed to polygamy and none appear to be a practicing polygamist. In the future efforts need to made to select polygamists or encourage the Tor Tiv to unite the tribes through marriage with the various clans for cross fraternization amongst the clans who will all have stakes in the success of the TOR TIV by association.

5.         The delay and seeming lack of settled law and leaders in place after the death of Alfred Torkula put the governor in a peculiar controlling position as he had to update existing laws and co-ordinate the selection and appointment of First class chiefs for Lobi, Gwer, Sankera, Jemgbagh, Jerchira, and Kwanda before the Tiv nation could turn to the task of choosing the Tor Tiv. While one must commend the leadership, role shown by Ortom in shepherding the process especially his efforts at renovating the palace and setting up the Planning Committee for the Coronation of the Tor Tiv, in the future all previous rules and regulations related to the selection of chiefs must be a matter of settled law, so the procedure can run smoothly and quicker and to prevent a vacuum that could similarly delay the selection of the new Tor Tiv in the future. In that vein, the Tor Tiv must be over and above any Governor and he must be rarely seen or heard and he must be removed from the process of arrangement for his coronation. The Governor must only be allowed to provide funding to the committee of kingmakers who will go about handling the coronation ceremonies to prevent the appearances that the TOR TIV is beholden to the Governor.

STATE OF THE NATION 

As discussed in the first part of this series the TIV nation faces serious threats to its existence and by several factors including but not limited to the following:

1.         The invasion of the middle eastern originated Abrahamic religions of Islam and especially Christianity which has sub splintered the TIV people into various denominations including the dominant NKST, catholic and protestants churches, etc.

2.         The encroachment of land grabbing Fulani seeking pasture for their cattle.

3.         The grand scale and ongoing slaughter of TIV farmers and citizens by suspected Fulani herdsmen.

4.         The systematic decline of the TIV language and culture due to the use of English language as the official language and transmutation of Tiv school of thought.

To understand the seriousness of these four issues it is important to reach back into history.

POLITICAL DOMINATION

The Tiv are the 4th largest tribe in present day Nigeria, but through colonial rule the Tiv people were grouped under the old Northern Region, a broad area encompassing so many other tribes, so created by the British as an administrative convenience . Eventually the Northern, which the TIV belonged too and the southern protectorates were unified to form Nigeria in 1914, and the Tiv fell under the spell and political control of the dominant feudal Islamic North from its caliphate headquarters in Sokoto.

Through that process the Tiv by fiat became almost a conquered people and the capital of the old northern region was in Kaduna controlled by the Sokoto caliphate who collected taxes and through which Muslims from the caliphate descended on the Tiv nation and Native Authority as administrative supervisory area officers.

This political subjugation led to the struggle by the likes of J.S Tarka to carve out a new identity for the TIV through agitation and the creation of the United Middle Belt Congress, a political organization dedicated to protecting and advocating for the country's Middle Belt and the TIV nation, while his struggle did succeed in creating the awareness of the individuality of the Tiv as a distinct entity from the core Muslim north the Tiv were somewhat relegated to the shadows under the old northern region grouping.

Following independence, the TIV were still marginalized under the old northern region before somewhat breaking away from that control under Benue Plateau State arrangement before gaining Benue state in 1976 shared with the major Idoma and Igala tribes. In 1991 the Igala were carved out of Benue State leaving it as the dominant force in Benue state today.

In regards to presence at the federal level in Nigeria, the tiv were conscripted in large numbers into the non-commissioned officer cadre corps during the civil war, but in the aftermath of the civil war the Tiv did not make many inroads and were systematically excluded from the senior officer corps and experienced purges during the 1976 coup that saw reprisals by the dominant Muslim officer corps against the Lang tang mafia which the Tiv fell under by default, for coup plotting.

Generally, despite the numerically strength from being the 4th largest tribe in Nigeria, the Tiv have been unable to translate that power into political control of Nigeria. The Tiv are courted for votes  during elections only to be discarded thereafter. The Tiv moved very close to the center of power when Iyorchia Ayu became Senate President during the third republic, but his reign was short-lived and they Tiv has managed to only secure a few appointments at the federal level since.

There was a shining moment when General Malu became the chief of army staff but he had a falling out with President Obasanjo and was retired and a series of events from that tragedy eventually led to the massacre of the Tiv at Zaki Biam.

INVASION AND PAYMENT OF TRIBUTE

Besides the obvious political and economic neglect of the Tiv is the far reaching problem of continued incursions and attacks by Fulani herdsmen and the earth-shattering silence by successive administrations in dealing with this menace. The attacks and planned annexations of tiv land is ongoing and has forced many TIV to flee the hinterland into numerous refugee camps. 

Besides the attacks by Fulani herdsmen are the never-ending land dispute battles with the Jukun, who have gained some advantage through the efforts of their powerful patron General TY Danjuma Rtd, and the location of an Army barracks at Takum where it has been reported that the soldiers act in support of the Jukun against the TIV.

Benue state is a member of the Arewa Forum a legacy organization where the governors from the old region meet to discuss troubling issues affecting the region. At these meetings, there appears to be no concerted effort to placate the Tiv or to coordinate support for aid to the TIV. These attacks and the silence at the federal level reflects the federal indifference about the tribulations of the Tiv and the sad reality that they need not be placated due to its problems being subjugated in this group.

Besides that, even wealth creating Benue Cement was systematically usurped and sold to Northern business magnate Dangote, over many Tiv Business men, a clear slight to the Tiv and the extraction of tribute from TIV land to a foreign dominant power.

It is mind boggling how the TIV nation could be so passive on the heels of so many devastating attack on its people and the strong voice of the Tor Tiv is needed to rally the people to tackle this vexing and life threatening seige. 

THE SWEM IMPERATIVE

Back in 1979 before the historic coronation of TOR TIV III Ochivirigh Akperan Orshi, they Tiv nation went through a vexing soul searching furor when its traditionalist and modernist wings went to war over the declared intention of Orshi to swear the oath of office on the bible instead of by the SWEM like his predecessors. There is some speculation that the custodian of the SWEM refused to present the swem for the ceremony, but at the end of the day Orshi swore by the bible and through that very act invariably signaled to the world that TIV land was a Christian nation.

To this day many Tiv people trace the incursions and decline in many areas of Tiv life to that perceived blunder and it did not help that he was generally perceived as a temperate figure, respected, but not feared because he did not dabble in diabolical native occult practices of the Tiv making various invaders unwary of the Tiv people because they had become pacified and Christianized people willing to turn the other cheek.

Presently the Tiv is perceived to be a Christian nation, and one of the reasons behind the incursions by Fulani herdsmen who view them as "Munchin". Despite the historical alliance they Muslim North are intuitively not able to align wholeheartedly with Tiv aspirations or act to protect them because they are not the same religion. There are a few Tiv Muslims, but due to ethnic and tribal considerations the will never be considered true Muslims or brothers by the dominant Islamic north. This places the tiv nation in extreme danger as proven by the inability to secure aid and security from the Islamic north that dominates and controls the levers of power in Nigeria.

It appears the traditionalist made a very strong case for reverting back to core values no doubt and aided by reported comments from the likes of former Governor Reverend Father Moses Adasu “that the Tor Tiv needs a lot of witchcraft to buoy his clout, and other comments “To the extent that the Tor Tiv is a traditional institution, mystification is justified,” by Rev. Asemagema succeeded in  pressuring Alfred Torkula, TOR TIV IV to swear by the SWEM. 

As previously stated due to the lack of solidly entrenched rules and non-insularity of the TOR TIV from the state executive, Governor Ortom, a stanch Christian, ignited the controversy by hinting that the next TOR Tiv will swear by the oath of office on the Bible. Traditionalists were dealt a cruel blow when the newly Ayatse confirmed and declared that he will be swear by the bible thereby reversing the progress of the traditionalists. 

It is imperative that Ayatse be compelled to swear by the swem, the Tiv symbol of Truth and Justice to clearly indicate that the Tiv are neither a Christian or a Muslim nation, but a TIV nation to reawaken TIV nationalism and begin the revival of tiv militarism against the existential threats from violent raids by Fulani Herdsmen.

Not only must Ayatse be compelled to swear by the swem he must be forced to never again step into any church or mosque or any house of Abrahemic originated worship and he must revive ancient practices and consult the native priests to worship the true Aondu of the Tiv people and work with them to reduce tsav and mitigate akombo to keep it repaired and offer special prayers and sacrifices to entice prosperity for tiv people.

We can only pray that Orchivirigh Ayatse can make the necessary personal sacrifice to begin the radical revival of Tiv nationalism or the Tiv nation must hold its breadth and look forward to the next Tor Tiv VI despite everything Ayatse will accomplish during his reign.

In keeping with tradition and precedent, emotive pressure must be applied on Ayatse during his tour of the remaining intermediate areas of Kwande and Sankera and the Tiv in the diaspora community to compel him to swear the oath of office by the SWEM. Each community must prepare a special swem for the TOR TIV in light of the peculiar problems facing their clans and have him swear to uphold their core values.

It is time for the Tiv, led by the TOR TIV to chart and out a new identity and stand independently of Abrahamic religions and regional alliance both politically and spiritually and signal to the world at JS Tarka stadium the revival of Tiv militarism.

It is time to return the Tiv to its roots by going back to its pre-colonial roots by getting reacquainted with the SWEM.

Msugh ne chi

Shagbaor Terhemba Osuji hails from Mbayion.

By Terhemba Osuji | March 3, 2017