In the heart of Nigeria?s ?Food Basket,? horror has become a recurring visitor, and the tales are written in blood and tears. But the latest attack in Benue State stands as one of the deadliest in recent memory, both in scale and brutality. In the early hours of Saturday, 14th June 2025, gunmen descended on Yelewata, a community in Guma Local Government Area, unleashing terror. While the messengers of death were on the prowl, dozens of families were reportedly locked inside their homes and burnt alive?with many bodies charred beyond recognition.

I understand the dead bodies are still being counted but behind the chilling statistics are countless personal tragedies. A mother who lost five children. Widows who mourn husbands killed while tending their farms. Internally Displaced People being brutally massacred in their camps. Orphaned children who are now forced to grow up amid violence and entire villages erased from the map. A traumatised father united with his 10-month-oldbaby after wife and other children were murdered. Today, survivors live with deep psychological scars, haunted by memories of bloodshed and loss. Wanting to sleep one night without fear is a simple wish. Yet, for too many in Benue State, that remains out of reach.

Take the story of Tsegba Gbam Ayua recounted by DAILY TRUST. ?I had been displaced from Ayua in Nasarawa State for over two years and was taking refuge with my family in Yelewata. A few days before the incident, I travelled back to Nasarawa to do menial jobs so I could support my family,? Ayua told the newspaper in what has become a familiar story for many. ?Then, around 11 pm on Friday, I got a call that our host community was under attack. I rushed back early Saturday morning, only to find the worst nightmare of my life. My wife and four children had been burned to ashes inside the market stalls where they were sleeping.?

In recent days, I have heard (from survivors of such brutality) and read (from various memoranda) many of these tales but let me not get ahead of myself. In Benue, the number of fatalities depends on who is doing the counting, but available reports indicate what happened could only be described as a pogrom. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has confirmed that more than 100 people, including security personnel were killed, while 46 others were hospitalized. Many have also reportedly died from their injuries. Thousands of people have fled their communities and hundreds remain missing or wounded without adequate medical care. The scale of this massacre and the chilling reports of families incinerated in their bedrooms, have sparked outrage nationwide and President Bola Tinubu visited yesterday.

To understand the Benue killings is to confront a tangled web of history, ethno-religious politics, and failure of leadership both at the national and subnational levels. In recent years, the conflict has escalated into cycles of reprisal attacks, with herdsmen often accused of raiding villages, killing civilians, grabbing lands, and destroying farmlands. Over the years, villages have been razed, and thousands of people have been forced to internally displaced persons (IDPs) with little protection or aid. The failure to prosecute perpetrators, slow response to attacks, and lack of meaningful dialogue have only deepened wounds. The immediate past Governor Samuel Ortom, enacted an anti-open grazing law to curb the violence, but this has not resolved the problem. If anything, the result has been a tragic escalation of violence, with the security agencies often accused of indifference or even complicity.

The pattern is depressingly familiar. In 2023, over 400 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded, raped, or kidnapped in attacks across Benue State. Since then, entire communities have been decimated, and the trauma of displacement compounds the horror of the killings. Just a few weeks ago, in May 2025, over 40 people were killed in three separate attacks on villages in Gwer Local Government Area of Benue. Victims included innocent civilians and security personnel.

In Benue State today, no rural community seems safe. In Logo, Guma, and Katsina-Ala, similar stories abound: Village razed, families decimated, and a government struggling to restore order. The cycle of attack and reprisal has become a grim routine, and the sense of abandonment is palpable. The motive remains unclear, but the incessant attacks underscore the ongoing insecurity and the failure to protect vulnerable communities. The attacks often come without warning and nowhere to run for help, leaving the people distrustful of government protection.

Authorities in Abuja may have been shocked by the magnitude of the latest killings, but they are not a new development. What makes the tragedy dangerous is the unavoidable sectarian slant based on the identities of victims?even if this is not a religious crisis. Speaking just before delivering last Sunday?s Angelus prayer at the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV expressed deep sorrow while offering prayers for the deceased. ?A terrible massacre took place, in which about 200 people were killed, with extreme cruelty, most of whom were internally displaced, hospitalised by the local Catholic mission,? said the Pope who then prayed ?that security, justice and peace prevail in Nigeria, a beloved country, so affected by various forms of violence. And I pray, in particular, for the rural Christian communities of Benue State, which have been incessantly victims of violence.?

I am writing this column from the neighbouring Plateau State where I have been on assignment as a member of the fact-finding panel on similar killings (https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2025/05/22/on-the-trail-of-plateau-killers/).With a range of beautiful hills amid fat rich lands, Plateau State is also blessed with a vital mineral resource. These endowments of nature are now at the root of the crisis. As we travel the state, both AVM Ibrahim Shafi?i (rtd) and Justice Esther Lolo (rtd), with whom I have had several interactions in recent days, share my view on how we waste opportunities in Nigeria.

Sadly, the tragedy in Benue State offers many parallels. On Monday, we had a session with the Plateau State Traditional Council at the palace of their chairman, Gbong Gwom Jos, HRH Da Jacob Gyang Buba in Jos. The exchanges were quite revealing. On Tuesday, we were in Mangu local government, the epicentre of the killings, where we first met with the council chairman, Emmanuel Nwoipon, and the heads of all military/security agencies. After that, we headed for the palace of the Miskhaham Mwaghali, HRH Da John Putmang Hirse who had assembled all district heads and Mwaghavul community leaders for a town hall meeting that lasted almost four hours. Although, it was getting dark by the time the session ended and I felt quite agitated, our chairman, Major General Nicholas Rogers (rtd) insisted on our visiting some of the ?war zones? because that is the only way to describe the level of carnage that we saw in some of the communities. Yesterday, we were at Bokkos local government where we had similar sessions (which included representatives of Miyetti Allah) before visiting some IDP camps and difficult-to-access communities that were recently attacked. Mbor, a big community where seven people were killed and many of the houses razed, is now completely deserted with inhabitants condemned to the IDP camps.

But I have also been following developments in Abuja where, apparently responding to local and international pressure, there is attention on Benue. Beyond the usual lamentations on Tuesday, the Senate pledged to organise ?a national security summit, not just for the military, but for CSOs, media, women, youth, and other critical stakeholders, because enough is enough?according to a statement by its spokesman, Yemi Adaramodu. ?We cannot keep going from Plateau to Benue, paying condolence visits?Together with traditional rulers and communities, we must put a stop to this bloodshed.?

Promising that yesterday?s presidential visit would ?signal that the government is serious?both the legislature and executive,? Adaramodu raised the hope that there would be a new approach, although talk is cheap and Nigerians have been regaled with several of such pledges in the past. ?When we hold the national security summit, we hope to uncover hidden problems and find lasting solutions to the killings of innocent Nigerians, not just in Benue or Plateau, but across the country.?

Here in Plateau State, we are learning a lot about this vicious cycle of killings, and I will share my experiences at the end of our assignment. But the horror tales from Benue States reveal a brutal conflict that has devastated lives and communities. They call for urgent action, effective security measures, and the requisite political will to address the root causes of the violence. For Benue State to heal and rebuild from the madness that has engulfed it in recent weeks, there must be a new resolve not only by the authorities in the state and Abuja but also by other critical stakeholders.

It is distressing that our country is fast becoming a funeral home given all the stories about brutal killings, displacement of people, conflicts, and disasters. We cannot continue like this!

? You can follow Segun Adeniyi on his X (formerly Twitter) handle, @Olusegunverdict and onwww.olusegunadeniyi.com

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