President Bola Tinubu has cancelled his official visit to Kaduna State slated for tomorrow (Wednesday). Instead, he will travel to Benue State, where there has been sustained bloodletting, resulting in last weekend’s killing of over 200 persons in Yelwata community by suspected herdsmen.
The special adviser to the president on information and strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga said in a statement yesterday that “the president’s visit aims to assess firsthand the recurring crisis that has claimed numerous lives and caused significant destruction.”
The presidential spokesman said Tinubu was scheduled to visit Kaduna State on Wednesday to commission various state government projects. However, Onanuga said the official visit will now take place on Thursday, June 19, 2025.
During his stay, Tinubu will meet with all stakeholders, including traditional rulers, political, religious, community leaders, and youth groups, to seek lasting solutions to the hostilities.
“In preparation for the visit, President Tinubu has already dispatched the secretary to the government of the federation, the inspector general of police, heads of intelligence agencies, the national security adviser, and the chairmen of the Senate and House defence committees to Benue State. The President is expected to hold a town hall meeting with all stakeholders during the visit,” Onanuga added.
Meanwhile, the governor of Benue State, Mr Hyacinth Alia, said armed herdsmen entering Benue without cattle were responsible for the fresh attacks.
Speaking in an interview on Channels Television, Alia said the herders come into the state with AK-47s and AK-49s, adding that after carrying out murders and destroying communities, new groups of people often move into affected areas to take over the land.
He said the borders posed a challenge to his state, as many of the assailants thronged Benue from the neighbouring Nasarawa State. The governor noted that some of the aggressors arrived through the Cameroonian border, insisting that some of them were not Nigerians.
“Last year, people had gone back home and engaged in farming activities with bountiful produce.
“But this farming season again, we started experiencing the phase of the new attacks. The phase of the new attacks comes this way. Before now, we were talking about the farmers/herders crisis, now it has graduated from there, it has become the question of herders coming in, and the armed men were among them.
“We tagged them the armed herdsmen. What we experience, generally, is that the herds are not being brought in, but those who are on the frontline fighting out here are only carrying AK-47 and AK-49.
“What are their aims? They don’t even come with cows. They attack, kill, and after one week, a number of people now come back to occupy. What we understand on the ground is a simple equation. A thief will not just come to a community unless there is someone within the community who leads the thief to your house or the community.
“What we have now is that, strangely, it is the fact that the herders had a crisis, the armed herders hijacked it, and now the bandits, and terrorists have come in completely. That is the situation on the ground,’’ he said.
For his part, the secretary to the government of the federation, Mr George Akume condemned the killings, saying that the killers were motivated by economic interest, not religion.
“This latest reprehensible act, one among too many, is not merely a tragedy for Benue; it is a deep wound to the soul of our nation. These dastardly acts are not restricted to Benue State alone. Plateau and Zamfara states also suffer the same fate. These killings are economic, not religious-driven.
“The innocent lives lost, men, women, and children, will not be forgotten. We mourn them not as strangers, but as brothers and sisters, bound together by a shared humanity and a common destiny.
“Beyond mourning, I call on all sons and daughters of Benue, our leaders, traditional institutions, and key stakeholders to come together now, urgently, to forge a path toward lasting peace and security. We must rise above division and act decisively to protect our people and preserve our future,” he said in a statement.
As a “son of the soil and a key stakeholder,” Akume pledged not to relent in consulting, mobilising, and coordinating all necessary efforts to find and implement a durable solution, as I am doing the same for all the other affected states.”
“As believers, Christians, Muslims, and traditionalists, we believe in the sanctity of human lives. Any single life lost offends the sensibility of God Almighty. All of us must live as brothers and sisters in peace and harmony,” he added.
He condoled the “grieving families and the resilient people of Benue in this dark hour,” and promised that “we will not rest until justice speaks loudly, clearly, and without delay.”
