•This can be a marketing campaign to annihilate us— Gov Alia
•Herdsmen sacked my neighborhood for over 10 yrs—Tiv chief
By Peter Duru, Makurdi
Friday, June 13, 2025, would certainly go down in historical past as one of many darkest days within the historical past of Benue State.
It was a day the folks of the state, notably the Yelewate neighborhood in Guma Native Authorities Space, won’t neglect in a rush. On that day, over 200 of their kith and kin have been murdered of their sleep by rampaging herdsmen.
The marauders had, on the stated day, stormed the neighborhood at about 10 pm, capturing sporadically and burning folks alive available in the market stalls and houses in an assault that lasted about 4 hours.
Additionally, the carnage generated world outrage and was referenced by Pope Leo XIV, who known as for prayers for Benue and the victims of the assault.
President Bola Tinubu was additionally pressured to cancel his scheduled journey to Kaduna final Wednesday to pay a condolence go to to the state and in addition search technique of ending the ceaseless armed herdsmen incursions within the state.
Killings
The President arrived on Wednesday at 12:58 pm and, after finishing airport formalities, proceeded to the Benue State College Educating Hospital (BSUTH), Makurdi, to sympathise with survivors of the assault. He then headed to Authorities Home, the place he participated in a city corridor assembly with Benue stakeholders.
The discussion board was aimed toward discovering an enduring resolution to the killings.
The assembly had in attendance key nationwide and state-level figures, together with the Secretary to the Authorities of the Federation, SGF, Senator George Akume, Governors, notably from the North Central zone, and that of Imo state, Hope Uzodima, the Nationwide Safety Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, the Nationwide Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, Umar Ganduje, Ministers, Nationwide Meeting members, high authorities functionaries, conventional rulers and a number of others.
On the assembly, the Chairman of the Benue State Conventional Council and Tor Tiv, His Royal Majesty Orchivirigh James Ayatse, set the tone for the day’s deliberation.
He lauded President Tinubu for being the primary Nigerian chief to go to the state at a time of such disaster, saying the world is being misinformed about what was taking place within the state.
The monarch stated: “We do have grave concern in regards to the misinformation and misrepresentation in regards to the safety disaster in Benue State.
“It’s not herders/farmers clashes, it’s not communal clashes, it’s not reprisal assaults or skirmishes. It’s this misinformation that led to ideas to make sure tolerance, negotiate for peace, and be taught to reside along with your neighbours.
“What we’re coping with in Benue is a calculated, well-planned, full-scale genocidal invasion and land grabbing marketing campaign by terrorists and bandits, which has been on for many years.”
Civil Struggle
The royal father, who recalled the sacrifices made by the folks of the state to maintain the nation collectively, stated: “Lots of our folks died throughout the Civil Struggle, we paid the supreme value to maintain this nation united.
“There’s a genocide in our land. It’s not a conflict, however a well-orchestrated and well-coordinated assault aimed toward wiping out our folks.
“We all know you’re a brave chief. You’re a centered chief. You’re a decided chief. You may have the braveness and the political will to finish this menace.
“You may have taken onerous choices and actions that many individuals earlier than you didn’t dare. You may have dealt with the subsidy elimination problem and change charge funding choices. I consider you can provide us peace. All we ask for is peace.”
Whereas referring to the same destiny that had befallen the Tiv-speaking folks in Nasarawa State, who he stated had been sacked from their ancestral houses after allegedly being tagged settlers, the Tor Tiv stated: “They’ve been in Nasarawa State earlier than the 18th century. They can’t be settlers. They want to return to their ancestral houses to proceed with their lives.”
In his speech, Governor Hyacinth Alia recommended President Tinubu for his immediate go to to the state within the wake of the assault, noting that the President’s resolution to cancel different engagements to personally go to the state was an indication of true management.
Annihilating
The governor lamented that: “The assaults on the peace-loving and good folks of Benue State have endured for nicely over a decade. This, now we have trigger to really feel is a calculated try focused at annihilating us and taking up our ancestral houses.”
Whereas noting that the go to marked the primary time a serving President would go to the state on the account of insecurity, the governor stated: “We consider this may convey an finish to the safety challenges which have endured in opposition to our folks in Benue State.”
Persevering with, he stated: “Regardless that our eyes are filled with tears and emotional grief as a result of lack of our family members, our properties, farmlands and ancestral houses, our hopes are ignited by your go to.
“Earlier than the go to, the Service Chiefs and totally different safety formations visited and we’re hopeful that, this go to will convey the lasting peace the folks of Benue State have lengthy yearned for.
“Your presence is a reassurance and we’re assured that, by no means once more will our folks be subjected to this diploma of inhumanity.
“Whereas we proceed to mourn our losses and rebuild from the ashes of ache, we humbly urge the Federal Authorities to contemplate establishing a particular intervention fund for communities affected by these incessant assaults in Benue State. Such a fund would go a good distance in supporting the rehabilitation of displaced individuals, rebuilding destroyed infrastructure, and restoring the livelihoods of our farmers and households whose lives have been upended. Our administration will maintain working to make sure that our individuals are not solely protected however can thrive once more on their land.
“Let me additionally reiterate my agency help for the institution of state police as a sustainable resolution to the persistent insecurity in our state and maybe elsewhere. Whereas I acknowledge the issues surrounding its implementation, I consider the federal authorities can deal with these by setting clear, state-specific tips and regulatory frameworks to stop any potential misuse.”
Peace
Addressing the gathering President Tinubu known as for an finish to land grabbing within the nation.
He additionally directed the institution of a committee of elders in Benue State to search out lasting peace.
Tinubu promised to host the assembly in Abuja to vogue a means for peace. He stated:”I’m able to put money into that peace. We’re right here to not present our faces however to share your pains and to condole you for the lack of lives.
I aborted my go to to Yelewata due to the rains, however I’ve seen the carnage on digicam to allow us decide. We are going to do one thing in regards to the redevelopment and recreation of that atmosphere.
“This isn’t the type of go to I’d have needed. I wish to be right here to fee initiatives within the state for progress and growth.
“We weren’t elected to bury folks and have orphans and orphanages. We are going to work with you to realize peace. We’re right here to work with the folks. The folks of Benue deserve peace as Tor Tiv talked about. For us in Nigeria, now we have to proffer options to this. We have now to confront this whether it is about land grabbing. Allow us to please discover a solution to type a committee of elders. That committee will comprise those that have ruled this state earlier than.
“I’m able to put money into that peace. We are going to discover peace and we are going to convert this problem to prosperity.”
President Tinubu questioned the Inspector Normal of Police on why arrests had not been made. “How come nobody has been arrested for committing this heinous crime in Yelewata. Inspector Normal of Police, the place are the arrests? The criminals have to be arrested instantly,” he directed.
He urged the heads of the Division of State Companies, DSS, and the Nationwide Intelligence Company, NIA, to accentuate surveillance and collect actionable intelligence to apprehend the perpetrators.
Emergency
Reacting to the President’s go to, a retired Assistant Inspector-Normal, AIG, of Police, Austin Iwar described the go to as important, however deeply underwhelming.
AIG Iwar stated: “President Tinubu’s go to to Benue State was important, however deeply underwhelming. Whereas his directive to arrest perpetrators of the Yelewata bloodbath is welcome, the general framing of the disaster as a ‘state challenge’ misses the mark totally. By deflecting duty to Governor Alia and calling for a peace committee with no concrete federal safety roadmap, the President dangers reinforcing the very failures which have allowed this tragedy to persist.
“President Tinubu’s go to to Benue ought to have been a turning level. For households who’ve misplaced family members, for farmers chased from their land, and for youngsters rising up in overcrowded IDP camps, it was a second to lastly hear that their pains mattered. As a substitute of hope, they have been handed hesitation. As a substitute of decisive federal motion, they have been informed to look to their state Governor.
“The disaster in Benue shouldn’t be a state matter alone. It’s a nationwide emergency.
“The President’s go to ought to have been a watershed second. As a substitute, it fell in need of offering the urgency, depth, and federal dedication wanted to handle a scenario that has claimed 1000’s of lives and displaced whole communities for almost a decade.
“The President should transcend generalised sympathy and imprecise requires peace. Because the Tor Tiv rightly said, this isn’t a ‘communal conflict’ or a ‘herder-farmer battle.’ It’s a sustained marketing campaign of armed violence, land occupation, and displacement. Treating it as something much less results in insufficient coverage responses.
“Calling for arrests with no nationwide technique to disarm and dismantle the armed teams behind these atrocities will solely recycle the issue. Peace committees are essential, however you can not dialogue with ghosts. Who’re we negotiating with if no group has claimed duty or declared their grievances? With out figuring out and fascinating clear actors, peace talks danger being a efficiency.
“Arrest orders made in public boards typically lose that means when not adopted by concrete outcomes. The President ought to demand weekly experiences on arrests, prosecutions, and progress in stabilising Benue.
“If no suspects are recognized, he should query the competence and accountability of safety chiefs. Management requires outcomes, not soundbites.
“Benue doesn’t want extra guarantees. It wants safety, prosecution of offenders, and everlasting peace. The folks of Benue are usually not asking for miracles. They’re asking to reside. To return residence. To plant their crops. To sleep by the evening with out worry. Something much less can be seen as an abdication of obligation. It’s abandonment.”
The Chairman of Benue Tribal leaders and President Normal of Mzough U Tiv, MUT, Chief Iorbee Ihagh, who recommended the go to of the President to the state, nonetheless, stated he anticipated a concrete declaration made to cease armed herdsmen from transferring across the nation. He cautioned that the terrorists have been on a mission to take over Nigeria and suggested the President to finish open grazing within the nation.
Communities
He stated:”As I converse, I’m displaced, my neighborhood in Moon Ward of Kwande LGA has been taken over by armed herdsmen for years now and all our folks have been sacked from their ancestral houses.
“You may think about that for over 10 years I’ve not been capable of go to my village, even once I misplaced my spouse not too long ago I couldn’t take her residence for burial. “We wish Fulani herdsmen faraway from our state, we are able to now not reside with them. Nobody can reside along with his killers.
“So I’m advising Governor Hyacinth Alia to make sure strict implementation and enforcement of the Benue Grazing Regulation with the help of the Federal Authorities whereas the President additionally ensures that the marching orders he gave heads of safety businesses are applied to the latter. It is just when that’s executed that we are able to confidently say the President’s go to to Benue State has set in movement a outstanding turnaround in our state. “
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