Story About How The Tiv People Of Benue Resisted The Sokoto Caliphate

Story About How The Tiv People Of Benue Resisted The Sokoto Caliphate....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶

Written By Oshiobugie John

The Tiv people, inhabitants of the lower part of Northern Nigeria, staunchly resisted the frequent slave raids orchestrated by the Sokoto Caliphate. Not only did they fend off these invasions, but they also adamantly maintained their independence and steadfastly rejected conversion to Islam. CONTINUE READING

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The Tivs, known for their fierce defense against outsiders, gained a reputation for using mysterious and lethal poisoned arrows against intruders. The British authorities, using the derogatory term ‘Munshi’ from the Hausa language, considered Tivland as a perilous region notorious for banditry.

Branded as ‘truculent’ and ‘intractable’ by the British, the Tivs lived up to these stereotypes. Just a month after Britain declared a protectorate over Northern Nigeria in 1900, the Tivs attacked an armed British patrol that was installing telegraph lines on their land. Previous assaults on the Royal Niger Company’s trading stations in Tivland, resulting in the murder of two agents, had already led to the closure of most trading stations in the region by the company.

Despite facing British military reprisals, the Tivs, in the eyes of the colonial power, emerged as a potential warrior race, making them targets for military recruitment. In the 1906 annual report to the Colonial Office, Lugard described the Munshis as “an extremely fine race, fearless and independent and very industrious.”

By 1923, only 11 out of 3,000 soldiers in the army were Tivs. However, during World War II, the Tiv contingent in the army grew to 6,000 fighters. Post-war, the Tivs became synonymous with the army, boasting significant representation in infantry units.

In 1950, the commander of the Northern Nigeria Regiment emphasized recruiting men of northern origin, particularly Tivs from Benue. British colonial authorities also enlisted members from neighboring ethnic groups like Idoma, Igala, Jukun, and others who resisted Sokoto Caliphate conquest or spoke Hausa alongside their native language.

This historical resistance has left an enduring legacy, with sixty percent of post-independence Nigerian chiefs of army staff hailing from these regions that once stood against the influence of the Sokoto Caliphate.

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