• Survivors of Yelewata massacre in pain, sorrow, tears
From Abel Leonard, Lafia
Many of the survivors of the recent killings in Yelewata, Guna Local Government, Benue State, have fled to Nasarawa State for refuge, making the Benue-Nassarawa boundary one of Nigeria’s busiest inter-state travel hubs.
In the wake of the attack and the growing spate of insecurity in Benue State, more and more of these displaced and distressed people are trooping into Nasarawa State in search of shelter and peace.
Although they are equally spotted in other parts of the state, one of their immediate points of stay, upon their arrival in Nasarawa State, is Kadarko, Obi LGA, located a few kilometres from their home in Benue State.
At the primary school in Kadarko last week, Daily Sun observed that the survivors of the Yelewata massacre were quartered at the makeshift, overcrowded camp. They were depressed over their conditions and some were still traumatised by the deadly experience that forced them into their present displacement. They were overwhelmed by what they had passed through in the last few days, a horror that still haunts them.
For many, what they survived on the night of Friday, June 14, 2025, was a hell of horror. That fateful night, suspected Fulani herdsmen stormed their agrarian community, murdered scores of innocent villagers in their sleep, set homes ablaze and displaced many others before daybreak.
Veronica Usha, a midwife, told Daily Sun at the camp: “For many survivors, the trauma runs deeper than physical losses. I saw a mother clutching her baby, both burnt beyond recognition. These images will stay with us forever.”
Although Desmond Adidi survived the midnight butchery, he admitted that the wounds were personal, too deep and may take a long time to heal, if they heal at all, giving the enormous damage done to his life and of his entire family: “My elder brother Emmanuel, his dear wife and their four children were all killed and roasted like chickens. They were sleeping in their homes when the attackers set their house on fire. None of them came out alive, none.
“We are in a serious situation here in this IDP camp. No medicine, no water, no food. We are sleeping on the bare floor. No one is coming to help us. Many children are sick here and there is no one, not a single health personnel to attend to them. So horrible.
“But I was lucky, so lucky to escape. I fled through a narrow footpath in the dark. I had to hide myself inside the primary school, where others were similarly taking refuge. I am still in deep shock trying to process what happened and how to make the next step.”
Another middle aged woman, Doshima, said: “The killings actually commenced at about 2:00 a.m on Saturday when everywhere was silent, still and dead. The destruction was too much to enumerate. They left behind a town in utter destruction; homes reduced to ashes, charred bodies of beloved relatives and burnt markets and community infrastructure.
“It was hell that broke loose. I lost my husband and three children. All died. But I managed to escape with my daughter because I didn’t sleep in the same room with them.
“Inside this IDP camp is also hell. No food, no medicine, nothing. Since we came, it has been tears everyday, tears from the past and tears from an uncaring present.”
Simon Tion decried the fact that almost everybody in Yelewata town had abandoned their homes and escaped following the attack but wondered if they were well wherever they had fled to:
“The security situation at home has forced us to abandon our farms and farmlands. Farming is our main occupation. The attacks are making us hopeless and useless to ourselves. Over 10 Tiv villages in Doma and Keana LGs have been deserted in the last few days.”
Some survivors recalled that the Fulani killer herdsmen arrived in two coordinated groups. One torching homes and markets, the other ambushing residents fleeing for safety.
A source who pleaded not to be mentioned the security situation has left many Tiv farmers dead and many others injured. The reason the Tiv community in Nassarawa State described the attacks as part of a coordinated campaign to undermine their ethnic group.
The source listed series of attacks against Tiv to include Thursday, June 13 and Sunday, June 15, in Dooga Ayande, Dooka Ward, Doma LG; Antsa of Kwara Chiefdom, Keana LGA; Tse Yange of Tudun Adabu/Kwaghshir Ward, Obi LG and Tse Akura of Galadima Ward, Giza Area Council.
The source held that the security incidents had reportedly claimed the lives of Terfa Tswabee, Sham Kyodo, Zaki Kwaghtagher Ordue and Teryem Aondo Apav, while others sustained various degrees of injuries.
While the number of IDPs are increasing and the existing facilities overstretched, the Ministry of Women Affairs, Ministry of Special Duties on Humanitarian Services and National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs (NCFRMI) are yet to fully respond.
Comfort Uduak, a social worker in Lafia, said: “The government must not wait until we start counting bodies in hundreds before acting. These people, not from this state, deserve security and dignity.”
Chief Aondohemba Ityo, a community elder in Kadarko, said: “Women and children are sleeping on bare floors. We have no water, no medicine, no mattresses. And no one from the government has come.”
He appealed to government and NGOs working on the needs of IDPs: “They should come to their aid and assist them with food, health care and other relevant resources that will help them mitigate their various challenges.”