Mr. President, Benue Is Bleeding: We Welcome You with Grief and Hope -By Leonard Karshima Shilgba

As President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s president, prepares to visit Benue State this week—his first since assuming office—our land awaits him not with celebration, but with open wounds. Benue residents await him like children badly bruised and bloodied by a bully, looking forward to the return of their caring but absentee father whom they hope to avenge them. We welcome the President not with festivals, but with funerals. In the past two weeks alone, over 200 Benue citizens have been gruesomely murdered, with the Yelewata massacre of June 13–14 leaving entire families burned alive in their homes. From Guma to Ukum, from Agatu to Apa, the smell of blood has replaced the scent of harvest.

This visit could not be more timely—or more tragic.

Mr. President, your presence offers a symbolic and strategic opportunity: to restore confidence in the Nigerian state’s capacity to protect its citizens and to hear, unfiltered, the anguish of the Benue people. We do not seek pity. We seek justice, peace, and the restoration of our humanity.

1. Who Are the So-Called “Warring Parties” that you mentioned in your press release of Sunday, June 15?

Your recent press statement described “warring parties” in Benue. With respect, sir, this framing needs interrogation. The herders who have repeatedly launched night raids, razed villages, and slaughtered civilians are not fighting equals. They are executing terror campaigns against farmers, women, children, and the elderly—unarmed civilians.

If indeed there are “parties,” has the federal government identified them by name, leadership, and sponsors? Has intelligence been matched with arrests and prosecutions? If not, “reconciliation” becomes a euphemism for appeasement.

2. A Decade of Massacres Without Closure:

The tragedy of Benue did not begin last week. The people of Guma, Logo, and Agatu have buried thousands of loved ones since 2013. Commissions have been formed. Headlines have been made. But where are the convictions? Where are the reparations? And why do some displaced persons live in camps for over six years, still unable to return home?

The 2017 “Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law” of Benue State was a proactive, peaceful attempt to resolve resource conflict. It was met with bullets. That law remains legal, constitutional, and in line with international best practices. Yet its enforcement has been weakened, partly due to federal non-cooperation, leaving our land vulnerable once again.

3. Federal Silence Has Empowered Impunity:

Injustice thrives on silence. The Holy Scriptures state eloquently, “When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong.” (Ecclesiastes 8: 11) For too long, the federal government’s voice has been muted when Benue people are massacred. There are states in Nigeria where the killing of 10 people would provoke national outrage and swift military reaction. In Benue, the death of 200 may not lead to a visit. Until now.

We are grateful that you, Mr. President, have chosen to come. But we must ask: Will this be a photo-op or a turning point?

4. Concrete Actions Needed Now:

As you meet with stakeholders in Makurdi, may I respectfully suggest the following urgent measures:

* Security overhaul in rural Benue: not temporary deployments, but permanent security bases in flashpoints.

* Federal acknowledgment of herdsmen terrorism as a unique and persistent threat—not as “communal clashes”.

* Prosecution of perpetrators, not just public condemnation.

* Rehabilitation of IDPs and rebuilding of destroyed communities, with a national task force dedicated to resettlement (I understand that your government recently approved billions of naira for the re-construction of houses of victims of flooding in Mokwa, Niger State. Benue victims of ethnic cleansing deserve more).

* Support for full enforcement of Benue’s grazing law, in recognition of the state’s constitutional right to make such laws for its peace and order.

5. Benue Is Not the Enemy:

Some elements within your government appear more interested in fighting Governor Hyacinth Alia than fighting those who murder our people. This is not just unpatriotic; it is diabolical. Our people want to live—not to die in a proxy war of egos. The divisions in Benue’s elite class must not be allowed to overshadow the shared pain of its ordinary citizens.

Mr. President, we commend your directive to security agencies. We ask only that you go beyond orders to outcomes. Your legacy in Benue can either mirror the failures of the past or mark the beginning of justice.

We welcome you, Mr. President. But we do so with tears in our eyes and one plea in our hearts: Let Benue live.

Leonard Karshima Shilgba

Leonard Karshima Shilgba is a university professor, columnist, and former Chairman of NABTEB.