The apex socio-cultural organisation of the Tiv people worldwide, Mdzough u Tiv (MUT), has taken the Tiv Area Traditional Council, to court.
The case, which was presided over by the Chief Judge of Benue State, Justice Maurice Ikpambese, came up for mention at High Court 1, Makurdi, yesterday.
The grievance of the MUT was the subsisting stereo-typing of the Tiv people that they offer their wives to visitors to sleep with as part of hospitality.
Counsel to the plaintiffs, Sebastian Hon, SAN, who spoke with journalists after the court session, said that the reliefs sought by the MUT, among others, was a legal declaration that such a custom does not, is alien to, and has never existed in Tivland.
The legal luminary said that irked by the ridicule and the trauma on the Tiv psyche, the MUT had no choice than to take the Tiv Area Traditional Council to court for standing aloof while the demeaning stereotyping persisted for ages without response.
Counsel to the defendant, Edward Ashiekaa (SAN), told journalists “the allegation (that the Tiv entertain visitors with their wives) is false. Completely false.”
“Tiv Traditional Council is not coming to defend but what we are coming to court to say is that the traditional council is aware of this allegation and is taking every step to ensure that it is not repeated at any other time in future,” he said.
Justice Ikpambese had earlier adjourned the matter to November 24, 2023 for further hearing.
