Benue: ‘Nobody came to claim the charred bodies’

•Youths bury victims as cattle breeders, Tiv groups clash over attacks

THE Yelwata community in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State has become a ghost town after a recent deadly attack allegedly carried out by suspected armed herders.

Youths remaining in the community have begun burying charred, unclaimed bodies of victims.

When our correspondent visited on Thursday, only a few young people and five women were seen among the ruins of what was once a vibrant settlement.

“These are charred bodies of the victims. Nobody has come to claim them. Either they couldn’t be identified or their relatives have no idea. The smell was unbearable, so our elders told us to bury them,” said a youth named Matthias.

Meanwhile, tensions have escalated between the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) and major Benue socio-cultural groups over claims and counterclaims regarding the violence.

In a statement titled ‘Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Right’, issued in Abuja, MACBAN’s National President, Baba Ngelzarwa, alleged that 57 herders had been killed in Benue State since January 2025, with over 4,348 cattle stolen.

“Fulani cattle breeders are frequently profiled, attacked and their properties destroyed. Their losses go unreported due to lack of media access,” the statement claimed.

MACBAN cited several incidents: 12 herders allegedly killed in Logo Local Government Area between September and December 2024; eight killed in Kwande Logo Local Government Area in January 2025; and others in Guma, Katsina Ala, and Ukum local government areas. The group also mentioned losses from “accidental aerial attacks” by the Nigerian Air Force.

However, the umbrella Tiv socio-cultural groups, Mdzough U Tiv, Ovhitoha’Kidoma and Omy’Ngede, have pushed back strongly.

Their president, Retired Comptroller of Prison, Iorbee Ihagh, challenged MACBAN to provide proof of its claims.

“This is an insult and a slap on our integrity. Imagine armed men storming our communities, killing and raping without provocation. These are terrorists,” Ihagh said.

He alleged that several communities in 13 local government areas, including his own council area of Moon in Kwande Local Government Area, have been under occupation by armed herders for a decade.

“I couldn’t even bury my wife in our ancestral home last year because the area is under their control. All public infrastructure, schools, markets, and health centres have been destroyed. Nobody can go there. Even the military looks the other way when they see Fulani herders with AK-47s, while our farmers with cutlasses are arrested,” he said.

He called on President Bola Tinubu to issue executive orders mandating the security agencies to flush out armed herders and reclaim the occupied territories.

“The agenda is land conquest. They are still nursing the defeat of 1804 at Ushongo Hills. If not for that defeat, they would have Islamised the entire country,” Ihagh warned.

Despite President Tinubu’s recent visit to the state, the conflict remains unresolved, as each side accuses the other of attacks, occupation and injustice.

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