Shitile/Ukum/Logo part of Ipusu might produce new TOR TIV ,As BSHOA passes law on the appointment of Tiv Paramount Ruler.

The Benue State House of Assembly has upheld the procedure hitherto followed in the appointment of Benue State paramount ruler, HRH Tor Tiv.

The stool is traditionally rotated between the two sons of Tiv – Ichongo and Ipusu. However, following the demise of the Tor Tiv IV, HRH Dr Alfred Akawe Torkula last year, there has been unhealthy debate over who should be heir to the throne.

After a marathon session, yesterday, Benue lawmakers passed the bill for a law to make provisions for the Amendment of Benue State Council of Chiefs and Traditional Councils, 2016.

Reading some of the resolutions, the Speaker, Mr. Terkimbi Ikyange stated that the sharing formula where the two Tiv sons coexist should be between Ichongo and Ipusu, and not by geopolitical division or Electoral Constituencies, thereby modifying Schedule 3 to Section 16 of the proposed amendment to the Council of Chiefs and Traditional Councils bill.

The House referred the issue of determining the true descendants of the two sons was back to the the Supreme Council of the Tiv people known as “Ijir Tamen”.

By this resolution, the next Tor Tiv will come from Shitile/Ukum/Logo part of Ipusu with the Ijir Tamen determining which of them produces the next monarch. This puts to rest the claim by the Kpalev part to the throne having produced the last two Tor Tivs.

Furthermore, the lawmakers agreed that the Selection Committee for the Tor Tiv stool is to comprise of Six First Class Chiefs, 14 Second Class Chiefs and the 28 Third Class Chiefs in Tiv land to bring the total number of the Committee members to 48 for fair and equitable representation in line with the Tiv custom and tradition.

The House also urged the Idoma Traditional Council to key into the restructuring of the traditional stools in the state especially as it concerns the creation of a district for each Council ward which is meant to broaden grassroots participation rather than insisting on the original 22 districts that existed in Idoma land during the colonial era.

Benue Info.