By Segun Onibiyo
(Makurdi) – “If Nigeria keeps refusing to name its internal enemies, it will wake up one day without a country to defend,” warned Dr. Abubakar Aldo, a counterterrorism scholar based in Abuja, in an interview with TruthNigeria.
“This is no longer about rural insecurity it’s systematic ethnic cleansing, and the refusal to designate the Fulani Ethnic Militias as terrorists is state-enabled impunity,” Aldo said.
That stark warning isn’t theoretical. It’s a daily reality in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, particularly in Benue, Plateau, Kebbi, Kogi, Kaduna and Kwara where armed Fulani militias are carrying out what many locals describe as “slow genocide.”
On June 14, that reality came to Iwili village in Benue’s Ukum Local Government Area.
“They shouted as they opened fire,” Justina Terkimbi told a TruthNigeria reporter by phone, recounting the dawn horror.
“We were running through the fields with children on our backs, but they kept shooting.”
Terkimbi, 38, is one of thousands of survivors of repeated massacres in Nigeria’s rural Middle Belt — attacks that federal authorities continue to label “banditry” or “communal clashes.”
That official rhetoric, experts say, is a mask for the truth: these are ideologically driven, targeted ethnic attacks.
Between 2015 and 2023, more than 6,000 people were killed by Fulani militias in Benue State alone, according to former Governor Samuel Ortom.
And the carnage continues. In the latest attack, armed men in black tunics stormed Iwili, torching homes and gunning down civilians – a pattern TruthNigeria has documented repeatedly.
Tone-Deaf Government Letter
As survivors buried their dead, a letter dated June 17, 2025, written by Hon. Francis U. Igutswen, Senior Special Assistant to the Benue Governor on Special Groups Mobilization, sparked outrage.
In it Igutswen urged grieving residents to come out and welcome President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Benue during a scheduled visit even though some of those same citizens had been arrested and reportedly tortured for protesting the state’s inaction over the killings.
The letter made no mention of the victims of recent attacks. Instead, it called on residents to “mobilize en masse” and show hospitality.
“This letter is a slap in the face,” said Felicia Terna, a Makurdi-based social worker who lost two cousins in the Iwili massacre, during an interview with TruthNigeria. “Our people are being slaughtered like goats, and instead of mourning with us, the government wants us to cheer like nothing happened.”
Security analyst Dr. Chinyere Obasi called the memo “political tone-deafness at its worst.”
“You don’t ask families in mourning to organize a welcome parade,” she told TruthNigeria. “This shows a total lack of emotional intelligence and empathy especially toward those freshly traumatized.”
“They Promised They Were Coming”
In Kaiama, Kwara State, 52-year-old Martha Yakubu told TruthNigeria she had no doubt the attackers were Fulani militia.
“They warned us first. They said the land must be vacated or we would die on it. They came in the night, burned the village and killed my son,” she said.
In Barkin Ladi, Plateau State, 29-year-old Luka Pam described his own escape: “They came in camouflage, but they weren’t military. They killed my father and uncles. No one came to help. We were on our own.”
These stories are not isolated. They are linked by the same operational pattern and illustrate the same impunity.
Why Words Matter
Experts insist that the refusal to legally designate the Fulani militias as terrorists is not just a semantic failure: It is a strategic collapse.
“Labeling them ‘bandits’ instead of terrorists limits what the government can do,” said Dr. Aldo. “It prevents tracking their funding, sharing intelligence internationally, and punishing their sponsors.”
Despite years of massacres, the Nigerian federal government continues to avoid calling the Fulani militias terrorists.
In Kebbi State’s Danko-Wasagu LGA, TruthNigeria documented a week-long campaign of terror in May 2025, where attackers issued advance warnings, razed Christian villages, and murdered dozens. To date, no one has been held accountable.
From the Sahel to the Savannah
This is no longer a local crisis. Armed Fulani jihadist factions tied to JNIM, Macina Liberation Front, and ISGS (Islamic State in the Greater Sahel) groups responsible for the collapse of Burkina Faso and Mali are believed to be influencing or directly coordinating with militias in Nigeria.
Jacob Zenn, a West Africa security analyst at the Jamestown Foundation, told TruthNigeria: “Nigeria’s Middle Belt is now part of the Sahelian insurgent corridor. This is not just farmer-herder violence this is a proxy war with ethnic and religious motives.”
In Plateau State’s Mangu LGA, community militias recently repelled a Fulani militia attack, killing several assailants. But experts warn that this model of self-defense cannot hold.
“If citizens begin to form parallel security structures, the state is effectively collapsing,” said Rev. Samson Ayokunle, former president of the Christian Association of Nigeria.https://punchng.com/can-blasts-fg-over-inaction-on-benue-killings
What Must Change
• Call them terrorists: The Fulani Ethnic Militias should be labeled for what they are under Nigeria’s anti-terrorism law. Without this, justice is impossible.
• Stop the euphemisms: The media and government must stop sanitizing the bloodshed. These aren’t “herders” or “bandits.” They are ideological killers.
• Demand accountability: The international community must tie aid and cooperation to real human rights progress.
From Iwili to Kaiama, from Barkin Ladi to Waje, Nigeria is bleeding. The most recent insult: a call to cheer a President as corpses are buried has deepened the wounds.
The question is not whether these killings are acts of terrorism. They are. The question is: How much longer will Nigeria deny the obvious and call the perpetrators by their well-earned name?
Segun Onibiyo reports for TruthNigeria, covering terrorism and conflict.
