The Tiv Area Traditional Council has been dragged to court over alleged cultural misinterpretation.
The council was brought before the Chief Judge of Benue State, Justice Maurice Ikpambese at High Court 1, Makurdi by the apex socio-cultural organisation of the Tiv people worldwide, Mdzough u Tiv (MUT) on Monday.
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.
Justice Ikpambese adjourned the matter to November 24, 2023 for further hearing.
Speaking to journalists after the court session, the counsel to the plaintiffs, Sebastian Hon (SAN), 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.
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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 that “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.
Recall that the myth became an issue of interest again during the just concluded Big Brother Naija All Stars reality show when a housemate, Venita Akpofure, alleged that Tiv men entertain their visitors with their wives.
Venita, who was married to a Tiv man before the divorce, came under serious verbal attacks by Tiv people.