President Bola Tinubu has ordered Nigeria’s security forces to track down and arrest those responsible for the recent massacre in Benue State, where over 100 people were killed in the Yelewata community of Guma Local Government Area.
Speaking during a town hall meeting on Wednesday in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, Tinubu gave a direct order to the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa.
“Christopher… We need to get our ears to the ground. Let’s get those criminals. Let’s get them out,” the President said.
The President’s visit comes in the wake of a brutal attack last Friday, which left dozens dead and many more injured. The killings have been blamed on armed herders, who have been accused of carrying out repeated assaults on rural communities in the state.
President Tinubu also met with victims recovering at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, offering words of comfort and promising justice.
Addressing the state’s governor, Hyacinth Alia, Tinubu hinted at political tensions behind the crisis. “Your political enemies don’t want you to succeed… Are you just realising that?” he said.
The President called for a united regional effort to restore peace in the troubled Middle Belt region.
“We cannot do without one another,” he said. “I want us to create a leadership committee now to meet in Abuja to fashion out a strategy for lasting peace. And I am ready to invest in that peace.”
Benue State has suffered years of deadly clashes between farming communities and armed herders, with recent attacks intensifying calls for stronger government intervention and lasting solutions.