The National President of the Advancement for Democracy and Idoma Unity ADIU, Mr Sebastian Inalegwu , has berated Chief Abu King Shuluwa ,for his open letter to Mr President captioned “Marginalization and Deprivation of the Tiv People of the Federal Character Allocation’.
Briefing newsmen at the end of an emergency National Executive Committee, NEC, meeting in Lagos, weekend , Inalegwu said the open letter attributed to Chief Shuluwa is “highly condemnable,” noting that “it is totally unacceptable for Chief Shuluwa to write such provocative and uncharitable open letter capable of inciting and misleading unsuspecting Tivs people against their Idoma brothers”.
Noting what he described as strings of unsubstantiated information and outbursts by Chief Shuluwa against the Idoma people , he said: “For some time now, I have carefully followed the negative anti- Idoma media attacks and blackmails particularly from Chief Shuluwa , and it is quite disgusting, untenable and totally unacceptable to well-meaning Benue people in particular and Nigerians in general .
“I humbly appeal to Mr President to be careful about the intentions and activities of Chief Abu Shuluwa ..,” Inalegwu averred
Inalegwu said , the question that is seriously begging for answer today is who is marginalising who looking at the scenario on ground, both at the Federal and
State levels, the state Governor at the moment is Tiv , the speaker of the State House of Assembly is Tiv , the Chief judge of the State is Tiv, the Head of Service is Tiv and one of the Ministerial slot is also occupied by a Tiv man and we the Idoma are not crying wolf in spite of the fact that our collective psyche as Idoma nation has been brutalized in Benue State in the last 38years.
Inalegwu also maintained that any debate on marginalisation in Benue State must also take note of employment and recruitment into the state civil service or state government parastatals where Idoma people are grossly under represented because more than 80% of the state workers are Tivs.
Inalegwu further argued that Chief Shuluwa outburst was done in a bad taste, adding that if there is one Minister, who is accommodating, highly detribalised and, sensitive to the plight of all Benue people irrespective of religion , tribe or political inclination since the creation of
Benue State thirty –eighty years ago, then that Minister is Comrade Patrick Francis Abba Moro.
Today , a Tiv man is handling a multi-billion naira contract for the construction of para-military villages across the thirty-six states of the Federation including Federal Capital Territory ,the contract has the capacity of engaging several engineers ranging from electrical , civil, mechanical , structural among others as well as architects , mansions and
labourers largely from the Tiv extraction, Inalegwu retorted .
I also have it on a good authority that several government officials , lawmakers , royal fathers and other prominent sons and daughters of the Tiv nation have also benefitted immensely from employment placement through the Minister in almost all the para-military agencies under the Interior Ministry, Inalegwu added .
Consequently, the President of ADIU said he armed with figures of Tiv people employed in all the para-military agencies in the Ministry contrary to the insignificant figures being advertised by Chief Shuluwa ..
