BOOK REVIEW.

ONOV TYUULUGH: MLU U TIV KEN NIGERIA. Makurdi.

Nigeria. Supagrafix, 2008. 133pp. (Price not stated). ISBN 978-36305-5-5.

Reviewed by
Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.
Department of Archaeology
Ahmadu Bello University
Zaria.

The Book, Mlu u Tiv Ken Nigeria by Onov Tyuulugh is a courageous attempt

at understanding the Tiv position in the Nigerian project. It is written in Tiv

language as a deliberate attempt to challenge readers and call attention to

the endangered status of the Tiv language. The author wants all Tiv people

to begin to engage and think through the Tiv question using Tiv language as a

medium to ensure the language survives the threat of extinction.

In a way, I find it clumsy that I am reviewing this book in English when its

written in Tiv. The author had asked that the review be in English for the

benefit of those here, today, who may not understand Tiv language. This is

an anomaly which has made me very uncomfortable and whose advantage

remains to be seen.

Mlu u Tiv ken Nigeria is written in six chapters. The first chapter which is

introductory is an outline of Tiv history and details of the Tiv contribution

to the Nigerian project. The author attempts a catalogue of Tiv

contributions to Nigeria starting from the pre colonial period. He argues

that even though this contribution is indelible having saved Nigeria a couple

of times, both the colonial government and successive Nigerian governments

since independence have treated the Tiv with characteristic disdain to the

point that, the Tiv today have little or nothing to show for giving their

sweat, blood and, intellect to the survival and sustenance of the Nigerian

project. He aptly titles this chapter, Tom- agogo - a powerful imagery and

parallel indicating that the tireless Tiv labour of love for Nigeria is not

valued and nothing more than the ceaseless ticking of the clock.

The second chapter entitled Kwagh u Tor Tiv is a discussion of the

evolution of the Tor Tiv institution. The author argues that the

discrimination suffered by the Tiv people under the colonial government gave

them food for thought and propelled their best who were directly at the

receiving end of this discrimination to agitate for a paramount ruler who

would articulate the Tiv interest and represent them as other paramount

rulers were doing for their people. A rich and detailed history of the

intrigues and manipulations leading to the emergence of Makir Dzakpe as

the first Tor Tiv in September 1947 is given. The intrigues leading to the

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emergence of Gondu Aluor, Akperan Orshi and Alfred Akawe Torkula to the

Tor Tiv title are also vividly revealed. An assessment of the reigns of each

Tor Tiv is done and the reader goes with the strong impression that the

institution has not achieved as much as one would have expected. Contrary to

popular history, Onov Tyuulugh has demonstrated that probably with the

exception of Gondo Aluor, the emergence of all others to the exalted

position of the Tor Tiv was heavily tainted by politics much of which was

dirty and achieved by stealth.

In chapter three, the author makes a compelling argument that even though

the Tiv are hardworking and very thoughtful people, they have continued to

suffer neglect and marginalization in Nigeria because they have abandoned

critical aspects of their core culture and values. According to him, the Tiv

have abandoned their initial spirit of competition for another in which the

object and the competitor (s) are subverted and ultimately destroyed

because no one is willing to give another a chance. He also identifies, Ya Na

Angbian, (the Tiv gift to Nigerian politics otherwise called zoning) inordinate

ambition (Gerasha), lack of team spirit, land disputes, poor agricultural

practices, Iyuhwe and lack of entrepreneurship as skewed values that

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have continued to stand between the Tiv people and a viable position in the

Nigerian project.

In chapter four, the author makes a case against the military as the

institution that has wretched the Nigerian project. Incessant military

incursions into the polity have according to the author, ravaged the country

through arbitrariness, lack of accountability, corruption and impunity. The

author concludes the chapter by arguing that democracy is the preferred

system of governance and that Nigerians have generally fared better under

democratic governments.

Chapter five is a wish list by the author. He calls it Isharen Yase.

According to him, Nigeria has gone past the Tiv and it will take

extraordinary action to catch up more so when there is apathy and many

seem to be lazy about the challenge and are unwilling to team up for the

common good. The author thinks a Tiv breakthrough in the Nigerian project

is however not impossible and will come if the Tiv people place premium on

education, scientific research, technology, housing, roads, fertilizer and agro

chemicals, water and electricity, irrigation and health.

In the last chapter, the author attempts a critical assessment of party

politics in Tivland arguing that Tiv politics is bereft of ideas and dominated

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by money, mischief and deceit. He argues that in the past and the present,

we have put money ahead of life, knowledge, truth and our long cherished

cultural values, an aberration that has not only made the Tiv people

careless in the choice of their leaders but has continued to damage them

collaterally in the Nigerian project. The author ends the book by arguing

that the Tiv people must wake up from their slumber and ensure that their

politics is transparent and aimed at giving a chance to their best to fight

and assert the Tiv interest in the Nigerian project.

Onov Tyuulugh’s book is a compelling reading for any student of the Tiv

question in Nigeria. It is a wake up call for the Tiv political class and a

powerful engagement with Tiv elites. While the book indicts the political

class and elites for the Tiv predicament in Nigeria, it attempts to argue that

all hope is not lost and, that determination, clarity and the ability to place

the common good over and above individual interests is what it takes for

the Tiv to have their fair share in the Nigerian project. For the political

class and those aspiring to join their ranks, the book is a hidden treasure

and only those who will have the discipline to read it cover to cover will

know its worth and what value it can add to their struggle to lead the Tiv.

We know that the Tiv population in Benue alone is more than the entire

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population of Kwara state, Ebonyi, Gombe, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Taraba, Cross River

and Nasarawa states. While these are standing alone as political units, the

Tiv are sharing a state with others (and grumbling) who are obviously doing

better in the Nigerian project than they are. How did the Tiv get this rough

deal in Nigeria? Do the Tiv have an agenda which is sufficiently clarified

and can be disambiguated from the narrow interests and agendas of their

sons and daughters? Is the Tiv political class aware of this agenda? Is it

possible for a people who place more premium on pieces of meat to even have

a political agenda? The Tiv plight reminds one of the fact that today, what

is propelling the world is not numbers nor natural resources but ideas. Onov’s

book is a very good book. Its reading of Tiv culture , history and

contemporary challenges in Nigeria is very passionate and extremely

courageous. At a time many are silent in order to curry favours, at a time

many are sycophantic to get a legroom in the corridors of power, at a time

many are complacent and satisfied with our poor farming systems, at a time

knowledge seems to have exploded in Tivland, we hear him shouting that

leadership has failed the Tiv people, that our knowledge is really NO

KNOWLEDGE unless we impact positively on the collective good. We hear

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him saying Adudu u Tiv gba usu opirin ngu ga. This is exemplary courage

for which he deserves commendation.

We however do not share some of Onov’s views. For one, Onov’s reading of

early Tiv history is not entirely correct and, more importantly, his chapter

three is extremely contentious. The chapter titled Tiv Wundu Gbaando

gives the impression that the Tiv have abandoned an ideal (Gbaaondo) and

are chasing new values that are counterfeit. The problem is -and for me this

is a rather big problem-to what extent are the skewed values articulated in

the chapter new values embraced after the abandonment of the old values?.

The Tiv concept of Ka Akperan Ikpa I Ande , Gerasha, Ijooave and

iyuhwe have been with them for a very long time. These are not even

specific to the Tiv. Take Iyuhe for example, which group or community on

earth has not been afflicted by this social cancer? Iyuhe abounds in the

Bible (the God of the Bible announces Himself as Aondo u gban Iyuhe), we

see Iyuhe everywhere in the Church, in other ethnic groups and even in

intellectual circles. This indicates in our opinion that Iyuhe is not specific to

the Tiv and we must stop using it as an excuse for our backwardness. The

concept of Ijoove is even more interesting. Was there a time in the past

when the Tiv had a developed team spirit before its abandonment? This is

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very debatable . We can talk of a Tiv team spirit in times of stress but

there is characteristic tendency for each to withdrawn to his(her) tent

when the stress is over. Have the Tiv not abandoned Dr. Alexander Gaadi

who singlehandedly took up the Federal Government and the ‘butcher of

Zaki Biam’ over the invasion and massacre of the Tiv by elements of the

Nigerian army. ? We can make the same argument about the Tiv lack of

entrepreneur spirit (Ivor Veren), one is not sure whether the Tiv have ever

been successful entrepreneurs in the past.

Onov also seems to be too optimistic in this book. He details the money

challenge in Tiv (Nigerian) politics and the pitiable Tiv preference for

pieces of meat in negotiating leadership positions and then argues for the

possibility of Tiv progress without a concrete suggestion of how the Tiv (and

other Nigerians) can overcome this money challenge and embrace issue

based politics. We are of the opinion that the Tiv by preferring those who

have money (acquired by whatever means), those who can beat them, those

who can rig elections and those who lead with impunity have made a choice .

This means unless and until the majority are convinced that this choice is a

wrong one , it will be difficult for the few who think otherwise to be held

and considered as serious alternatives. For each passing election, it is

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becoming more and more difficult for the ordinary person in Tivland (and

Nigeria) to use his or her voice to bring about the change we need in the

land. The political class because of greed, corruption and impunity is limiting

the chances of peaceful change in our land. It is quite ironical that the Tiv

political class believes that they must grab before they can make an

impression in Tivland (and in Nigeria) even when their emptiness is clearly

showing in the level of poverty, insecurity, suffering and decay the Tiv

have continued to go through in Nigeria. In some sense, the book, Mlu U

Tiv Ken Nigeria is prophetic. When the political class abandons their

mandate and the common good, the most effective way of regaining control

for the good of all is sadly through the use of force. For even the Bible says

‘Or u ii koom nan man nan nembe ikyor yo, asombu nan fese je mwar

akela lu ga’. We are approaching such a time in Tivland and Nigeria when

all will be convinced that the only viable way forward is to regain control by

force, what the politicians have taken by force and stealth. This leads us to

another area of disagreement with Onov Tyuulugh. Onov argues that

democracy is better than military governance and we ask, on what basis?

Yes, we know that incessant military incursions in the polity have led to

distortions and political mutations. Yes, we have had evil and unaccountable

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military leaders , yes, we have known corruption and lost tons of money

under the military , yet have we really fared better under civil rule? Do we

indeed have a democracy in our land today? How many of us are satisfied

with what we see of our government today and how many are convinced that

with their level of dissatisfaction they can change what is not working

properly today in the next election by merely voting for an alternative? . Are

we not merely resorting to that lazy argument that there is no viable

alternative to democracy? How many of us remember that countries like

Ghana were cleansed and stabilized only after the military had made a point

of spilling blood? How many of us remember the rebuilding of modern Turkey

under General Ataturk?, the reclaiming of Iran by popular revolution

spearheaded by the Ayatollah Khomeini? and popular uprising in other places

including Georgia and the Philippines?

A last point of departure. The Tiv question cannot be properly addressed if

the culpability of the intelligentsia is not clarified and exposed. Compared to

many of us seated here today, the JS Tarkas of the first Republic and the

Aper Akus of the second Republic were not as educated. To what extent has

education helped to clarify (or complicate) the Tiv question? We have seen in

our time, professors and PhD holder literally struggling with unschooled

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muscle men to steal the ballot and deny their mothers and fathers the

opportunity to cast a fair ballot. Teachers and lecturers in their large

numbers invade INEC as adhoc staff and are responsible for much of the

rigging that takes place in Tiv land. Educated civil servants school greedy

politicians in the art of theft and impunity. What has happened? and, how

can we justify the huge investment in our education? How can we get our

education right when Commissioners, Governors and top politicians are not

willing to put their children and wards in the public school system? How can

our education impact agriculture, commerce, our health systems and,

development? How can we explain the fact that there is a University of

Agriculture on Tiv soil and yet the Tiv are one of the most backward

farmers in the world? How else can we explain the Tiv fixation on yams

when guinea corn, cowpeas, melon, benniseed and groundnuts are far more

profitable crops. How is yam with all its attendant nutritional problems still a

preferred crop by the Tiv when its cultivation requiring huge parcels of land

and huge man hours is even prone to conflict? How many people know that

fish grown in ponds on plots of land less than half a football field can be

harvested and sold for more than yams grown on Akundu asule pue.? What

is the logic of the Tiv fixation on land when this is no longer a serious

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resource of production? Why are the Tiv not researching their problems in

Nigeria? Why are governments (in Benue and Nigeria) contemptuous of

education and research? How can we get it right? How can the Tiv arrive at

an agenda for their ‘liberation’ and hold those leading them accountable for

the success of that agenda? If Nigeria breaks up today and everyone runs to

pitch his(her) tent, where can we pitch our own? How can we arrive at what

works and discard what does not work?

I invite every Tiv person to read this book. If for nothing, it will wake you

from slumber , to beginning to ask those critical question about the Tiv

position in the Nigerian project and take those crucial steps to be active on

behalf of the Tiv people in Nigeria. The Tiv must dream with their eyes open

in Nigeria, otherwise they have no chance, I am convinced this is what Onov

Tyuulugh is telling readers of his book.

Bless you.

22nd October, 2009.

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