PRESS RELEASE
YELWATA MASSACRE: BENUE BLEEDS, GOVERNMENT SLEEPS – ADVOCATES DEMAND URGENT GLOBAL INTERVENTION
*As Calls Mount for Federal Action For Declaration of State of Emergency Option in Benue
By: Accountability and Development Advocates
Date: June 15, 2025
The Accountability and Development Advocates (ADA) is heartbroken and outraged by the mass killing of over 200 Nigerians in Yelwata, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, on Friday, June 13, 2025, in yet another brutal and coordinated attack by suspected Fulani jihadist herdsmen. This carnage, which consumed women, children, the elderly, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and even security personnel, is the latest in a long trail of bloodshed that has come to define Governor Hyacinth Alia’s two years in office — two years that have been bereft of leadership, strategy, and political will to confront the deepening security catastrophe in Benue State.
Despite prior intelligence reports and the history of targeted invasions in the Guma axis, the Alia administration once again failed to provide the necessary logistics and leadership needed to forestall the attack. According to community sources, the invaders stormed Yelwata from two fronts, engaging in hours of uninterrupted mayhem, while tactical responses remained slow and ill-coordinated. Two military officers, five policemen, and dozens of community volunteers were among the casualties. Homes were torched, children were hacked to death, and entire households wiped out — a scene that resembles a war zone more than a peaceful Nigerian village.
We find it unacceptable and unconscionable that in the face of such unprecedented tragedy — the highest single-day massacre from armed herdsmen in Nigeria’s history — the Benue State Government opted to threaten peaceful protestors instead of mobilizing tangible security responses or demanding accountability from federal security agencies. A government that chooses to intimidate grieving communities over standing with them has lost its moral compass.
Indeed, no other part of the world — not Ukraine, not Gaza, not even the tension-ridden fronts of Iran and Israel — has recorded the level of non-warzone civilian deaths that Benue State continues to endure in peacetime. These killings are not random. They are targeted, sustained, and enabled by silence at both state and federal levels.
We call on the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to urgently act and fulfill the constitutional responsibility of protecting lives and property. The bold steps being taken to forestall a breakdown of law and order in Rivers State should pale in comparison to the emergency required in Benue, where over 2,300 persons have been killed between 2023 and 2025 in over 40 coordinated attacks.
The ADA calls on:
The United Nations and relevant international humanitarian bodies,
The African Union (AU),
The International Criminal Court (ICC),
And global human rights watchdogs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch;
to immediately open inquiries into the targeted killings in Benue State, assess the crimes against humanity, and pressure the Nigerian Government to deploy urgent and sustained security mechanisms to halt the carnage.
We urge the National Assembly, especially senators and members from Benue State, to rise above political correctness and sponsor a motion of emergency intervention on the floor of the National Assembly. The silence from Abuja is deafening and betrays a disturbing indifference to the lives being lost daily in the Benue Valley.
The Accountability and Development Advocates reiterate: Governor Alia must speak, act, or step aside. If he cannot provide leadership at a time when his people are being butchered like animals, then his continued stay in office serves only himself — not the people of Benue.
The brazen massacre in Yelwata is not an isolated event — it is the climax of two years of incompetent security handling, detached leadership, and criminal silence. The Governor’s failure to create accessible channels for intelligence sharing and his repeated refusal to empower security operations with logistics and actionable strategy have made him complicit in the disaster.
The time has come to ask difficult questions. If nothing is done now, how many more Yelwatas will there be before Benue becomes a forgotten land soaked in blood?
#BenueBleeds
#YelwataMassacre
#JusticeForBenue
#StopTheKillingsNow
Signed
Anthony Odihi
Convener
