Yet No Prosecutions, No Convictions, No Justice, Protestors Cry Out
By Ekani Olikita
(Makurdi) Traumatized residents in Nyiev Council Ward, chiefly in Yelewata town, are crying out for justice against killers of 2000 of their neighbors and blood relatives since 2015.
Yelewata, the central town of Nyiev Precinct in Guma county in the Central Nigeria State of Benue, was thrown into mourning on June 13 and 14, 2025 following the massacre of more than 200 Christian residents by Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM), chiefly women, children, and displaced persons (IDPs) who relocated to Yelewata for safety after relentless attacks on their communities by ethnic jihadists speaking the language of the Fulani tribe. Pope Leo XIV described the killing as “barbaric and extreme cruelty” and called for justice for the victims.
Killings continue despite President Tinubu’s Visit to Benue State
Despite President Bola Tinubu landing into Makurdi June 18, despite commanding security heads to crack down on the jihadists, pounding attacks continued unabated for two months, claiming more than 50 lives.
U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio Condemns Ongoing Slaughter
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the first White House cabinet member to condemn this year’s unprecedented slaughters of Christians by Islamic extremists in Nigeria.
Rubio granted an interview to Raymond Arroyo of EWTN in which he confirmed that more Christians are killed in Nigerian than any place on earth. h
“Well, unfortunately in those places, you have these Islamist jihadist elements operating inside the country that deliberately target Christian communities and others, but they target Christians, especially in Nigeria, as you pointed out. And so, I think what we want to do is work closely with Nigerian authorities to prevent that. They must make it a priority to prevent it,” Rubio said.
No Fulani Perpetrator has been Convicted for the Killings
Despite persistent attacks, kidnappings and killings in Yelewata and its environs by armed Fulani Jihadists who chant ‘Allahu Akbar’ while murdering women and children, none of them has been brought to justice for 10 years, Yelewata residents tell TruthNigeria.
True, 53 suspects have been arrested in connection to the Yelewata killings, according to Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, yet the public has heard nothing of formal charges in court.
Similarly, the Punch Newspaper in its headline of June 23, 2025 edition, reported on the capturing of 15 more perpetrators of the Yelewata Massacre and even gave their identities, but none have appeared in court.
Relatives of Victims Cry for Justice
Speaking in a phone interview with TruthNigeria from his Oklahoma base on Friday, August 15, 2025, a Human Right Activist and a native of Yelewata, Barr Franc Utoo who lost more than 32 members of his family in the Yelewata Massacre, lampooned the Nigerian Government for its inability to bring any of the Fulani terrorists who killed 500 of his people in Yelewata and more than 2,000 in Nyiev Council Ward (Precinct) in the past 10 years to book.
“In the last 10 years, Fulani Jihadists have killed more than 500 in Yelewata alone and more than 2000 persons in Nyiev Council Ward (Precinct), with Yelewata as the headquarters,” Utoo told TruthNigeria. “Up till this moment, no Fulani terrorist who perpetrated the killings has been prosecuted or convicted anywhere in Nigeria. That tells you the depth of the complicity of the Nigerian government,” he went on to say.
“The complicity is orchestrated by Fulani oligarchs, political, religious leaders and sympathizers in the government, who are quick in calling the endless massacre as “Farmers/Herders Clash,” Utoo said.
“Insecurity in Benue State is not Farmers/Herders Clash nor Banditry but an Islamic Terrorism and Expansionism by Fulani Jihadists who are hellbent to kill, displace our people, takeover our land, establish Islamic caliphates similar to that of ISISL in the Middle East”
“Fulani are not indigenous to Benue State; even though they have the constitutional right to move from one place to another, they should not claim ownership of our land,” Utoo added. “Can I travel to Sokoto and claim ownership of any land there?” Utoo asked.
“We need the intervention of the International Community and all those who care for humanity, as our Government in Nigeria has been compromised and complicit in ongoing genocides in our country. There must be justice for the victims,” Utoo said.
“The Death Toll is more than 2000”— Jimin Geoffrey
Jimin Geoffrey, former senior special assistant to a former Governor of Benue State, corroborated the statistics given by Franc Utoo, adding that the death toll is even higher.
“We are all eyewitnesses of the killings that have swept across our land of Guma and are still taking place daily,” Geoffrey told TruthNigeria. “More than 1,000 persons have been killed in Nyiev Council Ward and more than 300 have been killed in Yelewata Community this year alone,” Jimin said.
‘Most of our people killed in the Rural Communities Unaccounted for’— Elder Ukumba
In the same vein, Elder Ukumba Thomas Tor, Yelewata Community Leader, said the number of people killed in Nyiev Council Ward (Precinct) and Yelewata by Fulani terrorists in the past ten years is more than 2000 and 500 respectively.
“The statistics are for the victims officially counted. More than half of the casualties were killed in the rural communities and unaccounted for,” Ukumba told TruthNigeria.
State authorities told TruthNigeria that a statistical count of all victims of terrorism during the last few months are still being processed.
Ekani Olikita is a Conflict Reporter for TruthNigeria.
