“Tell your children, husbands, relations to drop arms”: Nigerian Prelate to Women

During the August 6 peace conference, Archbishop Kaigama acknowledged that “many efforts at peaceful resolution have been made.”

However, he said, “the tensed Jukun-Tiv relationship seems like a stubborn boil that refuses to go away."

“Destruction and killings seem to have become a constant! Suspicion, distrust and hatred are so strong that some Jukun and Tiv persons are allergic to the name of the other,” the Nigerian Archbishop said. 

He went on to recall the “historic gathering on 16th January, 2019” that brought together some Governors and representatives of the two communities “to reflect on Tiv-Jukun relationship during which a book was presented by Mr. Joseph Bem Targema, titled, Tiv-Jukun Relationship: The Model of a Jukun Bishop and a Tiv Priest.”

“The book describes how the friendship between Rev. Fr. James Bature, a Tiv priest, and Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jukun extraction, has lasted for over forty years and could be a good and practical testimony that friendship between these two ethnic groups is not only possible but also very desirable,” the 62-year-old Prelate recounted during the August 6 conference. 

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He also reminisced the October 2019 meeting of Tiv and Jukun Bishops and Priests, convened following “the disturbing trend of violence leading to deaths, destruction of houses and means of livelihood involving the Jukun and Tiv ethnic groups in parts of Taraba State and the border settlements of Benue State."

During the October 2019 meeting, the Clergy made “a very passionate appeal that members of the two ethnic groups should sincerely understand and embrace one another.”

On the possible causes of the conflict, Archbishop Kaigama said, “Land disputes are a common feature among neighboring ethnic groups (and) arguments over boundary issues often result in serious breach of peace."

"These refuse to go away perhaps because of what may have become an unofficial policy in Nigeria that States or Local Governments are associated with particular ethnic groups, instead of emphasizing the citizenship of all irrespective of ethnic identity,” the Archbishop said in reference to disputes over land. 

In his view, “A Nigerian should be able to live and work in any part of the country without the limitations of place of birth or maternal language.”

He called on government officials to “seriously check the recurring crises which instead of promoting positive viable agricultural activities in the area to attract investors, plunge the populations into greater and greater poverty.”

“There are many Tiv and Jukun people who have lived well as neighbors, intermarried for decades and still live happily. Friendships have been cultivated that have stood the test of time,” the Archbishop of Abuja observed.

He once again recalled his own friendship with a Tiv Cleric saying, "While some skeptics would think that a friendship like that of Fr. Bature and I would be near impossible and not to talk of it flourishing and improving by the day, the reality is that there has been by the special grace of God a sincere, honorable and edifying friendship spanning forty years and still counting.”

“It is our conviction that it is such friendships that can break down the walls of division and neutralize the poison of hatred, division and violence,” Archbishop Kaigama emphasized. 

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Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.