President Bola Tinubu has ordered Nigeria’s top military chief to fish out those responsible for the brutal massacre in Yelewata community, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, which claimed over 100 lives last Friday.
Speaking during a town hall meeting in Makurdi on Wednesday, Tinubu addressed the Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Musa, directly:
“Christopher… We need to get our ears to the ground. Let’s get those criminals. Let’s get them out,” he said.
Benue State has been gripped by recurring attacks blamed on armed herdsmen, with Yelewata being the latest epicenter of bloodshed.
While
addressing Governor Hyacinth Alia, Tinubu alluded to political sabotage:“Your political enemies don’t want you to succeed… Are you just realising that?”
He stressed the urgency of collective action among the region’s leaders:
“We cannot do without one another. I want us to create a leadership committee now, to meet in Abuja and fashion out a strategy for lasting peace. I am ready to invest in that peace,” Tinubu declared.
Earlier in the day, the President visited survivors of the attack at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital. He was accompanied by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, and Governor Alia.
The Yelewata attack is one of the deadliest in recent times, underscoring the fragility of peace in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region.
