It was easily the biggest singular attack with the most number of fatalities since the onset of the activities of killer herdsmen in Nigeria against Christians. More than 200 Christians sheltering at an Internally Displaced Persons Camp in Yelewata, Benue State, were butchered in their sleep in the dead of the night by those identified as Fulani. It occurred on the night of Friday, June 13th.
According to reports, the militants massacred up to 200 Christians, targeting displaced families, setting fire to their buildings as they lay asleep inside and macheting any who tried to flee.
‘The IDP families were in buildings repurposed as temporary accommodation in the market square in Yelewata, in Guma Local Government Area, near Makurdi, when the militants stormed in, shouting “Allahu Akhbar” (“God is great”), before killing people at will’, a report stated.
Similarly, in a first-hand report given to Catholic Charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the local clergy said that earlier the same evening, the police had repelled the attackers as they tried to storm Yelewata’s St Joseph’s Church, where up to 700 IDPs lay sleeping.
‘But the militants then made for the town’s market square where they reportedly used fuel to set fire to the doors of the displaced people’s accommodation, before opening fire in an area where more than 500 people were asleep.
‘Initial reports confirmed that at least 100 people died in the three-hour killing spree but later data collected by the Diocese of Makurdi’s Foundation for Justice, Development and Peace (FJDP) estimated a full total of 200.
‘The death toll makes it the single-worst atrocity in a region where there has been a sudden upsurge in attacks amid increasing signs that a concerted militant assault is underway to force an entire community to leave the region,’ the report narrated.
It is understood that in the interim, church leaders are seeking to help huge numbers of people who had been taking refuge in Yelewata following Fulani attacks on communities across Benue, and who have now fled the town for neighbouring towns and villages.
The report quoted the town’s Parish Priest, Father Ukuma Jonathan Angbianbee, who spoke twelve hours after the massacre, as saying that he and other IDPs narrowly escaped death by dropping to the floor of the church’s presbytery at the sound of gunfire.
‘When we heard the shots and saw the militants, we committed our lives to God. This morning, I thank God I am alive,’ he said, while describing what he saw at the scene of the massacre as truly gruesome, with corpses scattered everywhere.
An initial report from the FJDP, whose staff had just visited the scene of the massacre, stated: ‘It was an eyesore – not a sight for anyone to behold.
‘Some [bodies were] burned beyond recognition – infants, children, mothers and fathers – just wiped out.’
Father Jonathan said some were so badly burnt that it was difficult to identify them.
He said Yelewata had absorbed thousands of IDPs from neighbouring villages as it was considered relatively safe, lying on the main road to Abuja. However, it is now largely deserted, with many taking refuge in nearby Daudu and Abagena.
Father Jonathan said he and others, identified the attackers as Fulanis; that the attack was carefully coordinated, with the militants accessing the town from multiple angles and used the cover of heavy rains to mount their assault.
‘There is no question about who carried out the attack. They were definitely Fulanis. They were shouting ”Alahu Akhbar”,’ Fr Jonathan insisted, while berating the police over what he described as their poor response.
Sadly, days after the massacre, the Nigerian Government was yet to issue a statement; not to talk about visiting the state. But in the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, we saw how the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, rushed to visit the place where only a handful of Israeli citizens were killed.
It is regrettable that in Nigeria, certain lives don’t matter. Had it been Fulanis that were killed, the entire nation would have been smouldering. While we condemn the taking of any life, we all recall how the Governor of Edo State ran to Abuja to give effusive apologies over the retaliatory killing of Northern travellers in his state who were discovered to be carrying arms. Imagine what would have been the case if members of any other tribe had been seen in a vehicle outside their region carrying arms. Our Northern brothers cried blue murder over the killing and threatened fire and brimstone.
But now that 200 people, including men, women and children, have been massacred in their sleep by Fulanis, no noise is being made in its condemnation. Perhaps, the crime of those killed was being Christians.
While the Nigerian Government has kept mum, the Vatican has sent its condolences. While speaking at the Angelus on Sunday 15 June, Pope Leo XIV said he was praying for those ‘Brutally killed in a terrible massacre, most of them IDPs sheltered by the local Catholic mission.’
The Pope said he was praying for security, justice and peace in Nigeria, adding that in his thoughts, especially, were the rural Christian Communities of Benue State who had been relentless victims of violence.
We condemn what is clearly the deliberate silence and inaction of the Nigerian authorities to the atrocities of the Fulanis who are rapidly expanding their theatres of war. It is sacrilegious that since the time of former President Muhammadu Buhari, not a single killer herdsman has been prosecuted. To add insult to injury, a man was sentenced to death for killing a Fulani herdsman who had attacked him in his farm. The court said he should have run away instead of trying to defend himself. What a travesty of justice!
As the Nigerian Government is reluctant to act to save its peaceful citizens, we urge all the state governors to rise to the occasion and safeguard their people. The threat of these Fulanis is coming ever closer, and, as the saying goes here, only the tree hears of its impending felling and elects to stand. Our governors should not wait till doomsday. The danger is real.
