IMPUNITY IS BREEDING ATTACKS AND COUNTER ATTACKS ... WHERE IS THE NIGERIAN GOVT TO STOP THE DRIFT? : Tiv, Fulani Clash: Over 20 Killed In Doma

Over 20 villagers were feared killed in a renewed violence between suspected Tiv militiamen from Benue State on the one hand and Agatu/Fulani on the other in Rukubi community in Doma local government area of Nasarawa State yesterday. Several other people were left with various degrees of gunshot wounds.
The Tiv attackers, also known as Soja Patali, were said to have attacked the community at about 6am. They reportedly opened fire on the villagers most of whom were women and children.
Though reasons for the attack were not immediately ascertained, LEADERSHIP gathered that the incident was connected to the alleged harbouring of Fulani herdsmen. The Tiv farmers’ attempts to resettle in their ancestral homes have reportedly been frustrated by the herdsmen and their “collaborators” since the outbreak of the crisis that has affected mostly the Ekye development area in Doma LGA of Nasarawa State for the past two years.
Rukubi, the community dominated by the Agatu tribe, has in recent times been the centre of allegations of harbouring the Fulani herdsmen who attack the local Tiv farmers. It was also alleged that the herdsmen were mercenaries hired by some individuals to sack Tiv farmers from the area.
At present, no fewer than 18,000 farmers, mostly the Eggon and Tiv ethnic nationalities, are still taking refuge at different communities across the state. All efforts by the state government to end the persistent communal clashes have not yielded the desired results.
The president of Tiv Youth Organisation in the state, Hon. Peter Igbacher Kwembe, who condemned the incident, dismissed insinuations that the attack was carried out by the Tiv people, pointing out that his kinsmen have been forced out of their ancestral homes for over two years.
He insisted that the allegation was a calculated attempt to further hurt the Tiv people as well as subject them to further attacks in places where they have been taking refuge in the past two years.
All efforts to obtain comments on the matter from the commissioner of police, Nasarawa State command, Umar Shehu, were not successful. He could neither pick phone calls nor reply text messages put to his mobile phone.