On 12 October 2001, ’19 soldiers’ were killed near Zaki-Biam, a Tiv town of about 80,000 people. The Nigerian Army in an ostensible show of revenge, invaded Tivland on the 20th – 23rd October 2001, and brought mayhem on Tivland, executing hundreds of unarmed Tiv civilians, Nazi-style, in an apparent ethnic cleansing agenda. This attracted national and international outrage.

In this account, Professor Iyorwuese Hagher presents an authoritative reconstruction of the events that led to the ethnic cleansing of the Tiv in Taraba State of Nigeria that spilled over to Benue State. The antecedents and causes of the orgy of hate, violence and arrogance of power, of those who masterminded the destruction of lives and property, is vividly projected.