Lafia — A Senior Advocate of Nigeria has condemned the Nasarawa State government's silence over the mass killing of Tiv indigenes, warning that official inaction on ethnic violence reveals dangerous cracks in Nigeria's federal system.
The rebuke, reported by Vanguard, highlights an underreported dimension of Nigeria's security challenges: violence in the Middle Belt, where ethnic, religious, and resource conflicts overlap in complex and deadly ways.
The Tiv people, one of Nigeria's largest ethnic groups concentrated in Benue State and parts of neighboring states including Nasarawa, have faced repeated attacks in recent years. While some violence stems from farmer-herder conflicts intensified by climate change and resource scarcity, other incidents reflect deeper intercommunal tensions.
"Government silence in the face of mass killings isn't neutrality—it's complicity," the Senior Advocate declared. "When state authorities fail to acknowledge violence against specific communities, they send a message that some Nigerian lives matter less than others."
The Nasarawa State government has not issued a comprehensive response to the killings, a pattern that Tiv community leaders say reflects official indifference to their security concerns. That silence stands in stark contrast to the vocal responses government typically provides to violence in urban centers or when politically prominent individuals are affected.
"We are Nigerians too," said Tersoo Akuma, a Tiv community leader in Nasarawa. "We pay taxes, we vote, we serve in the military and civil service. But when our people are killed, when our villages are attacked, where is the government? Where is the outrage? Where is the justice?"
The Middle Belt—stretching across central Nigeria between the predominantly Muslim north and predominantly Christian south—has become a flashpoint for violence that defies simple categorization. Farmer-herder conflicts, ethnic competition for political power, religious tensions, and criminal banditry all intersect in ways that make resolution extraordinarily difficult.
Climate change has pushed herders southward as northern grazing lands turn arid, bringing them into conflict with farming communities. Traditional conflict resolution mechanisms that once managed these tensions have broken down as violence escalates and trust erodes.
But framing Middle Belt violence solely as farmer-herder conflict obscures ethnic and political dimensions. The Tiv, as a large ethnic minority, face marginalization in states where other groups dominate political power. When violence occurs, minority communities often accuse state governments of protecting attackers from their own ethnic groups while ignoring minority victims.
"This is about ethnic federalism's failure to protect minorities," said Dr. Grace Mallam, a political scientist at University of Jos. "Nigeria's federal structure assumes state governments will protect all residents. But when ethnic identity determines who gets protection and who gets silenced, federalism becomes a vehicle for oppression rather than accommodation."
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The Senior Advocate's condemnation puts the Nasarawa government in an uncomfortable position. Continuing silence becomes increasingly untenable as legal, civil society, and community voices demand accountability. But speaking out requires acknowledging security failures and potentially implicating state-level actors in violence or complicity.
"What we're asking for isn't complicated," said Akuma. "Acknowledge the killings. Investigate who's responsible. Arrest perpetrators. Provide security so communities can return home. Compensate families who've lost loved ones and livelihoods. These are basic governance functions, not extraordinary demands."
The incident also highlights why Middle Belt violence remains underreported compared to northeastern insurgency or northwestern banditry. The complexity of overlapping conflicts, the political sensitivity of ethnic dimensions, and the geographic distance from media centers in Lagos and Abuja mean violence continues without generating national attention.
"Until governments are held accountable for protecting all citizens equally," the Senior Advocate concluded, "the violence will continue. And silence—official silence in the face of mass killing—will remain Nigeria's most dangerous policy."
