Tiv People and Benue Valley
The migration of the Tiv tribal stock from the Congo to the present-day Nigeria’s Benue Valley in the late 19th century coincided with the period in which Leopold II held a private interest in the then Congo Free State and brutally oppressed the natives over there. By some estimates, the population of the entire Congo Free State was determined to have declined from some 20 million to 8.5 million between 1891 and 1911. Is it any wonder today that a head honcho at the Greater Congo Area today is known as Denis Sassou-Nguesso? If he were a Nigerian Tivman, this honcho would be called Dennis Sesugh-Nguesugh. Check it out. Of their Congo origins, Nigerian Tiv have no doubt. Over now to the anthropologists and the DNA specs. Upande ve?
Sunday Adole Jonah, Department of Physics, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Niger State
