Nasarawa Sheltering Benue Attackers? Gundu Challenges Governor Sule

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Mkar in Gboko, Benue State, Prof. Zacharys Gundu, stated that he was not ready to apologize to Abdullahi Sule, the governor of Nasarawa State, for claiming that armed men, including herdsmen, were using Nasarawa as a base of operations to attack Benue.

Governor Sule, through his attorney, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Ahmed Raji and Company, demanded that Prof. Gundu apologize to him for his statement within seven days or face legal repercussions. Prof. Gundu responded by making the declaration.

Counsel to the Nasarawa State Governor, Raji, SAN, had previously demanded a retraction in a letter dated July 22, 2025, written to Governor Sule and Professor Gundu. The letter stated that he would be reassured if the University apologized unconditionally to him in at least five national dailies.

A law professor, Prof. Sebastine Hon., SAN, who also serves as Prof. Gundu’s counsel, responded to the letter by emphasizing that his client would not, under any pretense, apologize to Governor Sule.

Prof. Hon. claimed that his client, Gundu, stated the truth and provided evidence to back up his claims in a letter dated July 28, 2025, sent to Raji and made accessible to Makurdi’s Daily Independent on Monday.

In order to ensure that his client would not distance himself from the “accusation,” he advised the counsel to Governor Sule to advise his client appropriately.

In the letter, Prof. Sebastine Hon., SAN, expressed his disapproval of Governor Sule’s contradictory statements regarding the attacks. He stated that at one point, he would claim that there was a “influx” of terrorists and herdsmen in Nasarawa, but at any given time, he would claim that there were only a “few.”

“Your letter on the above subject matter, dated 22 July 2025, refers,” he stated. For Professor Zacharys Anger Gundu, we have been hired as his solicitors. In response to your letter dated July 22, 2025, we are writing this on his behalf.

“Our client instructed us that he just said the truth and nothing else. In particular, he is depending on the defenses of justification and fair remark, among others that are at his disposal.

To be clear, the following information is unquestionable: As the Governor of Nasarawa State, our client addressed your client as such, referring to him as the state’s chief security officer. For this reason, our client referred to “Governors” often, including Hyacinth Alia, the current governor of Benue State (albeit her name was not specifically mentioned) and Al-Makura, the previous governor of Nasarawa State.

“To further demonstrate that your client is not exempt from our client’s charges, your client told Channels TV in June 2025, following the recent Yelwata massacre, that Nasarawa State could not have been harboring the numerous murderers who travel to Benue in order to kill, maim, and then return to Nasarawa because the state only has a small number of Fulani herdsmen.”

This is in stark contrast to his well-known claim that “an influx of Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram members is occurring in Nasarawa State.” According to the Daily Post on June 27, 2025, your client also brazenly told this astounding untruth that day:
The vocabulary used to describe harboring and similar phenomena is problematic because there is no such thing. Not even enough Fulanis live in Nasarawa State for us to conclude that the state is harboring anyone.

Regarding the harboring of armed bandits in Nasarawa State: As our client mentioned at that public appearance, Tanko Al-Makura, your client’s predecessor, previously asserted that the bandits going out of and into Nasarawa State were “hunters,” despite the fact that the state has neither hunting forests nor ranges.

The “influx” of deadly bandits into Nasarawa State has been a constant source of concern for your client, Governor Sule, between 2020 and 2025.

We question why there has been such a dramatic change in public opinion from someone who has been claiming for at least the last five years that there has been a steady “influx” of Boko Haram members and armed Fulani herdsmen into that same state. Please ask your client if, since declaring this “influx,” he has also declared the “expulsion” or “voluntary migration” of those criminal elements from Nasarawa State.

The amount of proof our client has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the murderous Fulani herdsmen who attack Benue State on multiple fronts are always housed in Nasarawa State by the state’s successive governors, including your client, will astound your client, Prof. Hon. added.

“When we meet with you in court, we will release all of those pieces of evidence; however, the following facts are irrefutable and unquestionable,” he said.

Furthermore, according to the information at his disposal, our client maintains his position on land grabbing, Prof. Hon. Additionally, our client took covert attempts to strengthen his position after reading your letter being answered online and as a result learned the following disturbing facts.

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According to a recent news conference in Abuja, Tiv community leaders in the LGAs of Awe, Doma, Keana, and Obu in Nasarawa State, led by Jerry Aondo, SAN, claimed that your client has taken and continues to take huge tracts of land from Tiv people in Nasarawa State under a purported “agricultural mandate Why would anyone want to take over farmers’ farmlands under the pretense of a “agriculture mandate”?

“Your Client declared that “all lands in Nasarawa state belong to the state” in order to cover up the illegality of taking ancestral lands from Tiv indigenous in the state and giving them to invaders or some foreigners.

In a prompt and incisive response, civil rights activist and senior lawyer Dr. Monday Ubani, SAN, stated among other things in the Loyal Nigerian Lawyer of May 6, 2025, that your client’s proclamation “is legally incorrect, constitutionally flawed, and fundamentally misleading within the framework of Nigeria’s extant laws, particularly the Land Use Act of 1978.”

17 (17) Tiv people from Nasarawa State have sued your client, various Nasarawa State government agencies, and the Nigerian Army in Suit No. NSD/LF 44/2025, seeking judicial relief against the forcible seizure of their ancestral farmlands, which span thousands of hectares. We will not be discussing this suit further because it is still pending. The court procedures in this suit should be available to you from your client, who has already made an appearance,” he said.

We could continue, but these are only a small portion of the evidence we have to show that your client, the chief security officer of Nasarawa State, has known for more than five (5) years that the state he oversees harbors land grabpers and murderers, and he has made no real attempts to stop or curtail this grave threat. We have made the decision to keep some of our weaponry hidden for clear reasons.

“In view of the aforementioned, we have the firm instructions of our Client to dismiss the demands made in your letter of July 22, 2025,” he summarized. Under no circumstances can our client meet those requirements.

He said, “We sincerely hope you will advise your client appropriately.”