PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has condemned the continued bloodshed in Benue State and directed security chiefs to enforce his orders to end the carnage.
The President, in a statement released on Sunday by his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, described the killings as “inhuman and anti-progress.”
He directed security chiefs to fully implement his earlier orders to restore peace to the state.
The directive followed a fresh wave of attacks that reportedly left over 200 people dead in the North-Central state.
Tinubu also tasked the state Governor Hyacinth Alia to convene a reconciliation meeting for stakeholders to end the violence and promote peaceful coexistence among farmers, herders, and local communities.
He urged political and community leaders in the state to refrain from making unguarded statements that could escalate tensions.
“The latest reports of wanton killings in Benue State are deeply distressing. We must not allow this carnage to continue unchecked. Enough is enough. Our people deserve to live in peace, and this is achievable when leaders on all sides collaborate in fairness, openness, and justice,” the president said.
Meanwhile, Pope Leo XIV has condemned the recent killings in Benue State, describing the incident as a “terrible massacre” in which mostly displaced civilians were murdered with “extreme cruelty”.
Delivering his remarks before the Sunday Angelus prayer at the Vatican, the pontiff expressed deep concern over the ongoing violence in Nigeria and the suffering of affected communities.
The Pope prayed for security, justice, and peace to prevail in the country. He offered special intercession for the rural Christian communities in Benue, whom he described as “relentless victims of violence.”
The latest attack in the state occurred in Yelwata, a border town between Benue and Nasarawa states, where suspected herdsmen reportedly stormed the community late Friday night.
The ICIR reported that youth and other residents protested sustained killings in the state on Sunday, June 15.
Alia condemned the attacks, saying that nothing should warrant taking innocent lives.
He assured the state that more tactical teams from the Federal Government had started arriving in the state, and additional security deployments were being made for vulnerable areas.
The ICIR reported on Saturday, June 14, that fresh attacks on two local government areas of the state resulted in the death of 26 persons.
The victims were killed in overnight attacks on communities in the Makurdi and Katsina-Ala local government areas.
Hours later, about 200 people were reportedly killed again in the state.
These attacks came shortly after top military leaders, including the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Olufemi Oluyede, visited the state and promised to restore peace.
A reporter with the ICIR
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