Tiv people on Monday withdrew from the Commission of Inquiry into the crises between the Tiv and their neighbours that was recently constituted by the Taraba State government, for alleged likelihood of bias by the commission and the state government.
Lead Counsel for the Tiv’s, Sebastine Hon (SAN), had at the commencement of the commission’s sitting made an oral application requesting the commission to recuse itself from sitting and considering any memoranda pending the determination of the case before the Federal High Court Abuja.
Hon told the commission that he had instituted a case in Abuja and served the commission’s secretariat an affidavit of fact about the case on Monday morning.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria argued that the instrument setting up the commission was discriminately against the Tiv by profiling the Tiv people without mentioning any tribe that the Tiv people will be facing in the commission.
“The Tiv people have no confidence in this commission given the way and manner the commission was constituted and the manner the commission commenced its work.
“Even though the Tiv people were the ones named in the instrument, none of their memoranda was slated for hearing, and those slated for hearing were not served on the Tiv people who are the major party in the commission.
“The commission of inquiry has no jurisdiction to entertain criminal matters as contained in the terms of reference and it also lacks jurisdiction to look into the role states and local governments played in the crisis; hence it’s a Taraba matter.”
Hon then prayed the commission to adjourn sine die, decline jurisdiction or recuse itself from sitting, pending the determination of the substantive suit.
But lead Council to Wukari traditional Council and Wukari local government, Abdul Ibrahim (SAN) prayed the Commission to disregard the objection raised by Sebastine Hon (SAN).
In his ruling, Commission’s Chairman, Justice Bayang Aka’ahs overruled the objection raised by Hon (SAN) and adjourned sitting of the Commission to Wednesday for consideration of memoranda before the commission.
In his reaction, Sebastine Hon (SAN) announced the withdrawal of Tiv from the commission.
But Abdul Ibrahim in his reaction said his clients would appear and ventilate their grievances against the Tiv, adding that withdrawing from the commission was a matter of choice.
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