IDOMA NATION: A CENTURY OF ACHIEVEMENT, BUT WHERE IS THE COLLECTIVE POWER?

As the Idoma nation marked 100 years of its political and administrative evolution, the celebration in Otukpo became far more than a commemoration of history. It evolved into a searching debate about leadership, political choices, institution-building and the future of one of Nigeria’s most accomplished ethnic nationalities. Through thought-provoking interventions by Arc. Sonny S.T. Echono, the Och’Idoma, HRM Agaba’Idu Dr. Elaigwu Odogbo John, and legal practitioner Godwin Obla, SAN, a central question emerged: how can a people with an extraordinary record of individual achievement transform that success into collective prosperity, enduring institutions and greater political influence? The answers, they argued, may well determine the story of the Idoma nation’s second century.

Benue South Protests Exclusion from U.S. Fact-Finding Mission

“We Are Victims of Both Terror and State Marginalisation” The Ochetoha K’Idoma, the apex socio-cultural organisation of Benue South Senatorial District (Zone C), has formally protested the exclusion of Idoma and Igede communities from the itinerary of the visiting United States Fact-Finding Mission led by Congressman Riley Moore. In a petition submitted to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, the group described the omission as a deliberate act that reinforces what it called a “dangerous and misleading narrative” portraying Benue State’s security crisis as affecting only Tiv-speaking areas. “This exclusion is not an oversight; it is a systemic erasure of the suffering of our people,” the organisation stated. The Invisible War According to the petition, Benue South has endured sustained violent attacks for more than a decade. A 12-year timeline (2013–2024) attached to the letter documents repeated massacres across Agatu, Apa, Otukpo, and Obi Local Government Areas. The group cited the 2016 Agatu Massacre, where more than 500 people were reportedly killed, and the April 2023 Umogidi attack in Otukpo LGA, during which 52 victims were buried in mass graves. “Our land flows with blood,” the statement said. “Yet because our people absorb displaced families into private homes rather than formal IDP camps, the world assumes we are safe. We are not.” Demands to the U.S. Delegation The Ochetoha K’Idoma called on the U.S. Fact-Finding Mission to: In a statement signed by Dr. Echeofu Agada, Public Relations Officer of the organisation, the group warned that excluding Benue South undermines the credibility of any investigative mission. “You cannot claim to establish facts while ignoring half the victims,” the statement read.“The silence of Benue South is not peace; it is the silence of the graveyard.”