The communal crisis between the Igede and Tiv nations have been there for so long that myths have been created about them. There was a time head hunting was part of the rules of engagement and this phenomenon was prevalent along the Vandeikya border with the Udam of Cross River state and Konshisha and the Gwer East border with the Igede nation.
It is also a fact that these people carried on seamlessly because crisis is part of human nature. While some people may think that it is inexcusable to fight one another, it is fact of life that humans have taken fights to another level.
Nations have developed armies to serve as a deterrent for warmongers and as it is, some countries are existing because of their robust defence systems. The Israeli government has conquered its neighborhood as a way of ensuring their existence, just like the Iranian government believes Israel should be obliterated from the face of the earth. The Iranians know that going against Israel will be a costly mistake.
But between communities especially from one state who share so many values, it is against the rules of engagement to use helicopter gunships to prosecute a crisis. These skirmishes are called crises and not wars because the idea is not to exterminate the other but to raise rubble for a quick fix solution to existential problems.
The Tiv know that the Igede did not use the gunship that wrecked havoc on Tiv land. As it is, damage was extended to Gwer East which is not even involved in the crisis and this exposes the mindset of the Nigerian state; that the Tiv are same. Yes, we are same but it is not for anyone to distribute havoc to us by arbitrary choices. It makes no sense to decide that what happens in Konshisha should apply to Gwer East. It is idiotic and demonic. The Tiv hold the federal government squarely responsible for the mayhem, no more, no less.
And the army in their statement have alluded to bandits. It is our considered stand that there are no bandits in Shangev Tiev involved in this crisis. Bandits are armed robbers and outlaws and these are not the kind of people that are involved in the crisis, even on the side of the Igede. The army should know what they are doing and looking for in a crisis situation. It is not by throwing bombs and shooting from the air indiscriminately that those who it is claimed took guns from soldiers will be found. It needs better intelligence and planning because the guns can be burnt and destroyed by this use of deadly force.
And these guns are capable of bringing down the helicopter gun ships, so what kind of strategy is that? The only sensible thing to do is to create an environment where constituted authority can be used to extricate those guns, if they have been seized in the first place. But if the Palace of the traditional ruler has been reduced to rubble, where is his dignity to arbitrate? These are the consequences of acting before thinking, consequences of playing on an agenda to even scores rather than bringing peace. It is shameful in the least.
And this is the first time any government anywhere would deploy helicopter gunships to decimate its civilian population in the guise that they are chasing bandits. It is so sad that Tiv land has become a firing range for an incompetent military that finds pleasure in killing its civilian populace but scamper to safe havens in the face of mere opposition.
This is a military that often loses its hardware to ragtag militia and it is instructive that they have found safety from the skies to target practice at people who can only run like chicken do when hawks swoop down. There is nothing gallant about it but sheer cowardice. What manner of a military formation that would lose 10 soldiers with an officer to boot to local bandits. Like they killed Gana in cold blood after he surrendered and was killed by the military who claimed he was killed in combat, after a gun duel. Before the surrender, he was running circles around them. What arrant nonsense.
The problem with our military is that they have found easy targets among the people who do not fight back and they crumble at the slightest resilience like the Boko Haram which makes them turn to jelly. These gunships have never been displayed and deployed against the Boko Haram and thousands of soldiers have been killed by the Boko Haram. There is even selective justice in the way the Nigerian Army kills it's hapless citizens. What a travesty of justice.
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