The Jukun ethnic group in Benue State has vowed to resist attempts at distorting their socio- cultural heritage by renaming their territories. The Association of Jukun Wanu (NAJUWA) says its attention has been drawn seeking to rename several towns and communities across Benue State and part of Nasarawa State to reflect “indigenous Tiv identity and cultural heritage.”

NAJUWA said the legislative move is not only historically unfounded and culturally insensitive, but also exposes a coordinated, long-standing agenda of ethnic expansionism by Tiv elites -one that aims to dispossess indigenous nationalities such as the Jukun-Wanu, Alago, Agatu, and Gwandara of their ancestral lands and historical identities.

This was contained in a statement by NAJUWA’s Secretary General, Comrade Sule Musa Atase for the National Executive Council (NEC), titled “NAJUWA strongly condemns Benue State House of Assembly Motion on renaming communities: A thinly-veiled land grabbing agenda in Kwararafa territories.”

It noted that this pattern of appropriation is now further confirmed by the recent press release of the Alago Ikweyi Gbayi Development Union (AIGDU), which rightly challenged the misleading claims of HRM, the Tor Tiv, Prof. James Ayatse, during Mr. President’s condolence visit to Benue State on 18th June 2025.

In his remarks, the Tor Tiv wrongly claimed that Yelwata and other territories in Keana, Obi, and Awe local government areas of Nasarawa State were Tiv ancestral lands.

The AIGDU rightly responded, with documentary and historical clarity, that Yelwata is an Alago (Alagon Omere) village in Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, and not Guma Local Government Area of Benue as falsely claimed.

AIGDU noted that the Tiv people, according to well-established colonial records and traditional oral accounts, arrived much later as migrants and artisanal workers, and were never ancestral landowners in these areas.

NAJUWA echoes the position of AIGDU pointing out that historical truth must not be sacrificed on the altar of political ambition, ethnic superiority complex, or cultural revisionism.

It stated unequivocally that communities such as Daudu, Yelwata, Kastina-Ala, Wadata, Wurukum, and Kwatan Sule have their roots deeply entrenched in Jukun-Wanu, Alago, Agatu, and other non-Tiv ethnic civilizations.

“These territories existed centuries before the Tiv migration into these regions. To rename them under the guise of ‘Tiv cultural reclamation’ is not only historically false but a deliberate and aggressive move to overwrite existing identities, distort facts, and legitimize encroachment,” NAJUWA stressed.

NAJUWA argued that if, indeed, these areas being claimed were truly ancestral Tiv lands, then why did the original names of these towns not reflect Tiv identity from the onset?

It averred that the absence of Tiv linguistic or cultural markers in these names is a clear testament that these lands were never theirs in origin and the sudden agitation to rename them now is nothing but a calculated attempt to retroactively rewrite history and falsely legitimize territorial claims.

According to the statement, this position exposes the deeper intent of the motion -an attempt by some Tiv elites to abuse the goodwill of the host communities who, generations ago, welcomed and accommodated their Tiv ancestors in trust and peace and that sacred trust is now being betrayed under the banner of legislative activism and cultural reclamation, which NAJUWA said must be resisted.

The Association stressed that such efforts are not isolated but are part of a systematic expansionist ideology aimed at ethnic domination through demographic spread, political manipulation, and now cultural rebranding and nothing short of a modern land grab disguised as legislative reform.

NAJUWA categorically condemned the motion and demand its immediate and unconditional withdrawal stressing that the Benue State House of Assembly must not serve as a proxy for ethnic hegemony or allow itself to become a tool of historical distortion.

As such, the Association is demanding that the Federal Government, through the National Boundary Commission, immediately demarcate and enforce the rightful boundaries between Benue and Nasarawa states, using historical instruments and extant gazettes.

That traditional institutions and minority nationalities in Benue and Nasarawa states be protected from the ongoing aggression and appropriation agenda being pushed by Tiv political actors.

It also urged security agencies to closely monitor developments to prevent the escalation of ethnic tensions that may arise from such provocative moves.

NAJUWA noted that its stands remain clear: “No to the renaming of Kwararafa lands, No to cultural imposition by numerical strength or legislative manipulation and no to historical erasure and distortion of facts.”

It called on all well-meaning Nigerians, especially civil society organizations, ethnic minority coalitions, and international human rights observers, to speak out against this ethnic land appropriation agenda saying that if allowed to stand, this move will set a dangerous precedent that could unravel fragile peace across the North Central and beyond.

“The Jukun-Wanu people will not be silenced. We will defend our history, our identity, and our land with facts, truth, and resolve,” the statement noted.