By Henry Uche
The Community of Practice Against Mass Atrocities, under the platform of Nigeria Mourns, has condemned the brutal and coordinated attacks on agrarian communities in Benue and Plateau states, which claimed at least 183 lives in the third week of April 2025 alone.
In a statement jointly signed by several civil society organisations, the groups described the attacks, often wrongly attributed to herder-farmer conflicts, as acts of terror against vulnerable rural populations.
In Benue State, 11 people were reported killed in Akpa, Otukpo Local Government Area (LGA), while 56 others were massacred in Logo and Ukum LGAs. Similar atrocities were documented in Agatu, Kwande, and Katsina-Ala. In Plateau State, 54 people were killed in Zikke village, Bassa LGA, while another 52 were murdered across six villages in Bokkos LGA. Eyewitnesses also reported sightings of armed assailants in Tyolough, Ukum LGA, raising further fears of continued violence.
The groups, which include Advocacy Centre for Development (AC4D), Alliances for Africa, Almajiri Child Rights Initiative (ACRI), and Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), among others, insisted that the scale and coordination of these attacks show they are not isolated incidents but the result of a longstanding systemic failure.
“The Nigerian state’s inability or unwillingness to fulfill its constitutional duty, as enshrined in Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), is glaring,” the statement read. “The security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government, but this promise has been broken repeatedly.”
They noted that from 2019 to 2024, at least 2,105 Nigerians were killed in similar attacks, stressing that the frequency, coordination, and impunity exhibited in these recent killings expose the deep neglect of rural communities by the government.
“These victims, including men, women, children, and the elderly, were killed in their sleep, on their farms, and in their homes. Their only ‘crime’ was residing in rural areas abandoned to insecurity,” they lamented.
Other signatories to the statement included Global Rights, Grassroots Development Monitoring and Advocacy Centre (GDMAC), Neighbourhood Environment Watch Foundation, and Sesor Empowerment Foundation, among others.
The coalition condemned the government’s apparent indifference to the killings, describing the blatant disregard for human life as a violation of Section 33(1) of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to life.
The statement further highlighted that the ongoing violence is deeply tied to unresolved land use crises, complicated by mining-related land grabs. “Ignoring these systemic issues will only perpetuate the cycle of bloodshed,” they warned.
Expressing frustration at the federal government’s selective urgency in addressing national issues, the group demanded decisive action:
Independent Investigations: Immediate independent investigation into all reported attacks through the National Human Rights Commission and the UN Human Rights Council.
Enhanced Security: Deployment of security personnel, including the Nigerian Air Force, for aerial surveillance, ground operations to reclaim occupied lands, and the installation of drone surveillance systems.