AKWAZA USED & KILLED - WE MOURN

The biggest crime that made Akwaza person non grata was that he allegedly stole cows of Fulani herdsmen.

That is a lie, he chased away grazing cows and their Fulani herders in his zeal to implement anti grazing laws or in righteous anger at the destruction of crops and vast tracks of farmland, some stubborn resistant herdsmen may have been killed or brutalized in the process.

Ever since, that unforgivable sin, confirmed by a serving governor that anyone spilling Fulani blood had taken a debt? the force of federal might was used to have akwaza declared a criminal militia commander and a N5m bounty was placed on his head.

Alongside that declaration, an insidious plot was hatched to tie and link incidents of banditry to Tiv militia commanders like Akwaza and Deyan and Tashiaku.

Unfortunately for Akwaza This ransom was declared before the massacres that forced Ortom’s hand to act under cover of the mass burial of the innocents and other events to enact the anti grazing bil and become more bellicose about Benue being a no go area for herdsmen.

In the meantime, Akwaza had already been stigmatized as a Terrorists and he along with Tashiaku, (where is he now?) and Dayan were increasingly blamed for most of the killings actually carried out by Fulani herdsmen.

Akwaza now the villain but still determined to stop rampaging herdsmen gathered like minded vigilantes to form his militia along the sankera axis to check and interdict Fulani herdsmen.

Unfortunately for him, every single criminal action and every genocide was blamed on his gang instead of Fulani herdsmen.

Insiders aware of his calamity could not save him or be seen in public with him nor could the ransom be rescinded; it was already gazetteg into the operational mindset of the soldiers of operation whirlwind that Akwaza was the terrorist responsible for the unrest in the Benue valley.

Fortunately for Akwaza Benue people became wise to the fact that he could not be responsible for all the killing especially since the governor had embarked on a publicized campaign to declare Benue a no go area for grazing and threatening arrests of any herdsmen recently.

With those pronouncement and the creation of the livestock guard, The coast was finally clear to introduce the matter of amnesty to bring in from the dark the honorable members of the militia and whitewash the image of its commanders like Akwaza.

Unfortunately for Akwaza, due to the delicate nature of this state sponsored amnesty operation whirlwind was not fully incorporated into the plan.

Under standing orders to bring in Akwaza dead so as to never have him reveal the inner workings of the grand conspiracy to blame him for all the killings committed by Fulani herdsmen, Akwaza and his convoy were fired upon en-route to an amnesty meeting and killed and his bloodied body displayed to warn the militia of consequences,

The blood he spilt in defense of the homeland has been avenged by the people determined to collect a debt.

It is a sad day for the Tiv Nation

It is a sad day for the future of Tiv militia forces that are being disarmed in the face of an emergent threat.

We must do more to protect our men and militia commanders.

RIP Akwaza, a memorial will be built in your memory in the future when we drive Fulani herdsmen from our land.

By Terhemba Osuji

Deputy Commander,

Tiv Native Authority Security Council (plenary session)