The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has issued a scathing condemnation of the ongoing wave of violence in Benue State, describing the mass killings as “genocide” and accusing the federal government of deliberate inaction, betrayal, and systemic failure.
In a strongly worded press statement signed by Professor Abubakar Jika Jiddere, the NEF’s spokesperson, the forum said the scale of the bloodshed in Benue was deeply alarming and threatened the state and national stability.
“The situation has degenerated into unrestrained bloodshed and lawlessness, turning communities into killing fields and exposing the utter collapse of governance, accountability, and security,” the statement read.
The NEF cited the recent killings in Yelwata, where over 150 people were reportedly slaughtered, and an additional 200 lives lost in Guma and Logo Local Government Areas, calling it a humanitarian catastrophe. Thousands have been displaced, forced into “squalid, unsafe IDP camps” without access to healthcare, water, or necessities.
According to the forum, what is unfolding in Benue is not an ethnic or communal crisis, as often portrayed, but a politically-driven internal crisis allowed to fester through “criminal negligence, partisan interests, and failure of leadership.”
“The government’s refusal to act, speak, or even acknowledge the scale of the crisis is a betrayal of its core constitutional responsibility,” NEF said. “What we are witnessing is not just failure but deliberate inaction, a culture of impunity, and an alarming collapse of national integrity.”
The Forum warned against attempts to ethnicise the violence, insisting such narratives only serve to embolden the perpetrators and obscure the true causes of the crisis.
In response, the NEF issued a list of urgent demands to the federal government: Immediate deployment of elite, well-equipped security forces to Benue State to halt the killings and restore order; A full-scale, independent investigation into the political and economic interests fueling the violence; Swift arrest and public prosecution of all perpetrators, including any officials complicit through action or inaction; Adequate compensation and rehabilitation for victims, families of the deceased, and displaced communities; A national security overhaul that involves regional stakeholders and prioritises truth, transparency, and justice.
The NEF said the killings in Benue were preventable and directly resulted from government indifference and incompetence, warning that continued silence from authorities would amount to declaring war on the people.
“Enough is enough,” the statement concluded. “If the government continues on this path of silence and denial, it will have declared itself an enemy of justice, unity, and the people it was elected to serve.”
The Northern Elders Forum reaffirmed its solidarity with the people of Benue and other crisis-ridden communities across northern Nigeria, vowing to continue speaking out until justice is served.
