A Tiv social cultural group in Russia, the MDZOUGH U TIV RUSSIA (MUTRU), has flayed the Nasarawa State Governor, Alh. Abdullahi Sule over his recent threat to sue the Professor Zachary Gundu over comments bordering on insecurity.
MUTRU in an open letter to the governor, obtained by our correspondent said emphatically that Professor Gundu’s statements during the Town Hall meeting were not mere allegations; they were painful facts backed by security reports, and the lived realities of thousands of displaced and bereaved families.
The letter read:
OPEN LETTER TO HIS EXCELLENCY, GOVERNOR ABDULLAHI SULE OF NASARAWA STATE.
RE: Legal Threat Against Professor Zachary Anger Gundu. 27th July, 2025.
Your Excellency,
I write to you on behalf of Mdzough U Tiv Russia (MUTRU), a concerned global representative of the Tiv people, and a witness to the unending bloodshed that has plagued Benue State for over a decade. The recent threat by the Nasarawa State government through your chief press secretary Ibrahim Addra demanding an apology from Professor Zachary Gundu, a former pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the council, Benue state university Makurdi now Rev. Fr Moses Orshio Adasu University, Makurdi and Vice Chancellor, University of Mkar, Mkar- Gboko a respected Tiv son and fearless voice for our people is not only unjust but a deliberate attempt to silence the truth.
Professor Gundu’s statements during the Town Hall meeting were not mere allegations; they were painful facts backed by security reports, and the lived realities of thousands of displaced and bereaved families. Communities like Tse-Apera (Gwer West), Udei (Guma), and Yelewata (June 2025) have suffered brutal attacks, with killers crossing from Nasarawa State, massacring our people, and retreating unhindered into forests in Awe, Doma, Keana, and Adudu-Doma.
Your Excellency, if these attackers are not operating from Nasarawa State, how do they move so freely across the border? Do they fly in jets to Benue? Launch missiles?
Again your referenced report on television at different interviews confirmed that these terrorists pass through Nasarawa state and hide in Nasarawa’s forests a fact you acknowledged in your discussions with different medias. Your excellency sir, rather than a threat to taking legal action against a man who speaks for victims, we urge you to:
- Take immediate action to flush out these killers from Nasarawa’s forests.
- Prosecute and expose any local collaborators harboring them.
- Strengthen inter-state security cooperation instead of engaging in needless political battles.
- The Mdzough U Tiv in Russia (MUTRU) Urgently calls on your administration to address the systemic persecution of indigenous Tiv communities in Nasarawa State, who face constant displacement from their ancestral lands during farming seasons, brutal killings by armed herders, and total marginalization in development projects and political appointments. Despite being law-abiding citizens who contribute to the state’s agricultural and economic growth, our people are denied basic security, representation, and infrastructure, while their attackers operate freely under your watch. We demand immediate action to end these injustices, restore our people’s lands, and ensure their inclusion in governance failure to act will confirm Nasarawa State’s complicity in ethnic cleansing and provoke global condemnation from the Tiv diaspora.
Should this proceed to court, the Tiv people worldwide will interpret it as a direct provocation. We will stand firmly with him, for he spoke nothing but the truth and Mdzough U Tiv Russia (MUTRU) will join as a party to the case, as we fully endorse his statements.
The Fulani militias terrorizing Benue are not faceless. Their meetings in Nasarawa before attacks including the Yalewata massacre are well-documented. Denial will not erase the bloodstains on our people both in Nasarawa and Benue state.
Finally, we call on your government to:
- Stop shielding the truth and confront the killers in your territory.
- Redirect energy from silencing critics to securing lives.
- Recognize that Benue and Nasarawa must be allies in peace, not enemies in denial.
The world is watching. History will judge.
Signed,
- Chief Tuleun Terhemen (M.MAN)
President, Mdzough U Tiv Russia (MUTRU) and leader of the Middle Belt Community Russia. (MBCR) mutrussia@yandex.ru.
- Tartor James Amih Coordinator Mdzough U Tiv Russia (MUTRU) Nizhiny Novsgorod Region.
- Dugeri Rita Dooshima. Coordinator Mdzough U TIV Russia MUTRU Moscow Region.
- Engr. Azo Barakur Calvin. Coordinator Mdzough U TIV Russia (MUTRU) S.T Petersburg.
- Emmanuel Ikyerga, Coordinator Mdzough U TIV Russia (MUTRU) Kazan region
- Engr. Ndur Aondona Elijah, MNSE. Mdzough U Tiv Russia (MUTRU) S.T Petersburg Region.
- Kwaor Isaiah Aondofa. Assistant Secretary General Mdzough U Tiv Russia (MUTRU)
