Benue Killings: How Long Will Innocent People Keep Dying in Silence?
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Benue Killings: How Long Will Innocent People Keep Dying in Silence?
The recent massacre in Yelewata, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, where over 100 people were brutally murdered, is not just another sad story — it is a national tragedy. Homes were burnt. Families wiped out. Children and pregnant women slaughtered. And yet, Nigeria moves on as though nothing happened.
This is not the first time such horror has happened in Benue. From Gwer West to Agatu, Logo to Makurdi, the blood of innocent farmers continues to soak the soil of a state once called the “Food Basket of the Nation.” What is their crime? Simply farming their land and trying to feed their families.
The attackers are often suspected to be armed herders. The government knows this. Security agents know this. The people know this. But where is the justice? Where are the arrests? Why do these killings continue year after year, with no real consequences?
We must ask hard questions:
Why are thousands of soldiers deployed during elections, but never when rural communities are attacked?
Why has no president ever visited Benue after a massacre — until now, after public outcry?
Why is farming now a death sentence in Nigeria?
The people of Benue deserve more than tears and promises. They deserve protection. They deserve to sleep with both eyes closed. They deserve to go to their farms without fear of being killed.
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President Bola Tinubu has promised to act. We hope this time, action will follow words. We hope the lives lost in Yelwata will not be forgotten like others before them.
Enough is enough.
We call on the federal government, the security agencies and all Nigerians to treat this as the emergency it truly is. If we keep ignoring the cries of rural communities, one day, the whole country may feel the pain they have endured for years.
Justice delayed is justice denied. And justice denied is peace destroyed.
