Benue massacre: We thought Yelwata was safe

•Survivors recount ordeal in makeshift camp

Last Friday was a dark and devastating day for the people of Yelwata, a community in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State. Over 200 people were reportedly killed in a brutal attack by suspected armed herders. Our correspondent, Johnson Babajide, visited the International Market camp in Makurdi, where survivors of the massacre are now taking refuge. Their stories are harrowing and their voices heavy with grief, pain, and frustration. Below are excerpts from the visit:

SINCE the outbreak of herders’ invasions in Benue about 11 years ago, the Yelwata attack ranks among the worst — second only to the Agatu massacre nearly a decade ago.

Survivors told our correspondent that the attack was not the first on Yelwata. The community, which sits along a federal highway and is presumed to be under regular surveillance by security personnel, had been attacked multiple times before. Ironically, many of last week’s victims were themselves previously displaced persons from nearby villages in Guma LGA who had fled to Yelwata, thinking it was safer.

Instead, they were ambushed and slaughtered in cold blood — after having narrowly escaped death several times in the past.

 Now housed in an overcrowded camp near the George Akume Way in Makurdi, survivors spoke in voices soaked with sorrow. Their faces carried the burden of trauma and the silent question: why does our country not value our lives?

“I Thought We Were Starting Over… Then They Came Again”

 Adzaagee Mumun, 35, is a mother of four. When our correspondent approached her outside the International Market camp, she was pacing restlessly and murmuring inaudibly to herself.

 “Madam, you look so worried. Is everything alright?” our correspondent asked.

 She looked up, hissed, and hesitated. But our correspondent, noticing her hesitation, explained his mission gently to her.  “I’m a journalist,” he continued.

“What do you want from me?” she asked cautiously.

 “You look worried and I am sure you are one of the survivors of Yelwata carnage. If you don’t mind, I would  like to hear your story,” he explained patiently

 After being told it was about the Yelwata incident, she nodded, then suddenly burst into tears.

“I am a mother of four. This was the fourth time we’ve experienced a Fulani attack. We are not originally from Yelwata. Our village, near Gidan Sule, had come under repeated attacks. We thought Yelwata was safer because it is along the highway and there were security men around.”

 She continued, “I’ve lived in Yelwata with my kids for two years now. My husband stayed behind in the village to farm and help defend our land. At first, it was tough—we lived in market stalls. But gradually, I got farmland near Yelwata and began planting maize, rice, millet… my husband came every weekend to help.”

Her voice broke again. “That little hope we had… it was all destroyed last weekend with the invasion of the Fulani last weekend. Now, we were brought to this camp on Sunday; but it has been hell.  I couldn’t sleep at night because of mosquitoes. There is no mosquito net. Hunger is another thing; there is no food, no water, even to bath. My phone is dead — I haven’t been able to reach my husband in two days.”

 Then came a heartbreaking revelation: “My elser sister, Mwuese Aondoka, is here with us in the camp; her situation is worse than mine and reason is that  she lost her three children, Doose 10; Tengo five years and Nguma three years. The children were killed during the attack.”

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Though our correspondent asked if she could speak with her sister, Mumun explained that she was yet to finish with her registration at the camp and would not be allowed to enter if she exited the camp.

“She cannot come out from the camp, because she is yet to register as an inmate. If she comes out without being registered, she will find it difficult to go back.

According to her, situations have been tightened in the camp as a result of the protest carried out by inmates. 

“Because of the protest we held on Thursday, camp officials have become stricter. They now screen people before registering them. Since my sister arrived that evening, they’ve refused to register her — and if you’re not registered, you can’t access food or even re-enter if you leave.”

“Mosquitoes are feasting on us”

 Another survivor, Elizabeth Jonathan, 36, arrived at the camp four days ago with her four children. “Even though I’m registered, I’ve not been given a room. We sleep outside. Mosquitoes are feasting on us.”

 Mrs. Jonathan said she had to send her children to her mother’s house in Makurdi due to the harsh conditions in the camp. “Only I remain here. My husband is still farming in our home village. The day of the attack, I was lucky. I’m not originally from Yelwata — we relocated there after our village was attacked three years ago. I was staying with my husband’s relatives. That day, he wasn’t around.”

 She added that her husband has since come to visit her in Makurdi.

 “Let me go home. I have food there”

 For Janet Thomas, 45, an indigene of Yelwata, the attack was not a new experience.

 “This wasn’t the first time the Fulanis attacked us,” she said through an interpreter. “But this one was the worst. The destruction was total.”

 A farmer with four children, Madam Thomas pleaded with the government to provide security so they could return to their homes.

 “Here, we have nothing. No food, no place to sleep, no mosquito nets. It’s 11 a.m. and I haven’t eaten today. I only ate once yesterday. I want to go home. At least there, I have food and a roof over my head.”

 “My husband died because he slept in Yelwata that night”

 Blessing Memba, 28, lost her husband in the attack. A mother of two, she was only spared because she wasn’t in Yelwata that day.

 “My husband had a house in Yelwata where his siblings were staying. He just went to visit that Friday and decided to sleep over. That’s when the attack happened. He, his sister, elder brother, and the brother’s wife were all killed.”

 She described the camp’s condition as “critical.”

 “That’s why we protested yesterday. They were not giving us food or nets. But after the protest, they have started sharing some items.”

“We left our father behind — He didn’t survive”

 Iorgyer Fidelis, 41, said he and his family barely escaped with their lives — but their 100-year-old father didn’t make it.

 “It was at night. We had all gone to bed. It was the sound of gunshots that woke us. Then we ran for dear life and left everything behind. But my aged father couldn’t move. The Fulani attackers set the house on fire. Luckily, the flames didn’t reach his room, but by the time we returned the next morning, which was Saturday, he was dead.”

While calling on government to provide adequate security to communities in Benue State and prevent the wanton killing of innocent citizens, Fidelis appealed for support for all the communities that have been ravaged by Fulani marauders as well as families who lost loved ones and properties in Yelwata and previous attacks.