The Northern Elders Forum (NEF) has issued a firm condemnation of the ongoing killings and violence in Benue State, calling the crisis a “genocide” driven by state failure, political silence, and the breakdown of national systems.
Speaking on behalf of the Forum, Professor Abubakar Jika Jiddere expressed deep concern over what he described as an escalating situation of “unrestrained bloodshed and lawlessness.”
According to him, “The situation has degenerated into unrestrained bloodshed and lawlessness, turning communities into killing fields and exposing the utter collapse of governance, accountability, and security.
Benue State, one of Nigeria’s critical agricultural hubs, plays a vital role in national food production, youth and women’s employment, and economic stability. Today, this once-thriving state is under siege.”
The Forum warned that this once-productive state is now marked by instability and widespread suffering, worsened by the government’s silence.
In Jiddere’s words, “The lives of its innocent citizens are being violently cut short, and its socio-economic structure is being systematically destroyed, while the government stands by in silence, helplessness, or worse, complicity.”
The NEF highlighted the scale of the carnage, stating that more than 150 people were recently killed in the Yelwata community alone, with another 200 slaughtered across Guma and Logo Local Government Areas.
Thousands, the Forum said, have been displaced and are now trapped in overcrowded, unsafe IDP camps that lack clean water, healthcare, and food. Medical workers, they added, are overwhelmed and operating under near-impossible conditions.
According to NEF, women, children, and the elderly are dying in silence while leaders look the other way.
The group rejected the notion that the killings are ethnically motivated.
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“Let it be clearly stated: this is not an ethnic conflict, as it is deceptively portrayed. It is an internal political crisis, one that has been allowed to fester due to criminal negligence, partisan interests, and a complete failure of leadership,” Jiddere said. He added that efforts to reframe the violence as ethnic tension are not only dishonest but dangerous, as they shift attention from the real causes and encourage continued atrocities.
The NEF accused the government of abandoning its constitutional responsibility to protect lives and property. It described the inaction as deliberate, not accidental.
Jiddere said, “The government’s refusal to act, speak, or even acknowledge the scale of the crisis is a betrayal of its core constitutional responsibility. It has failed in its primary duty to protect the lives and property of its citizens. What we are witnessing is not just failure but deliberate inaction, a culture of impunity, and an alarming collapse of national integrity.”
He warned that the continued mischaracterization of the crisis could deepen instability, embolden the perpetrators, and derail any meaningful response. NEF, while expressing full solidarity with the people of Benue and other affected parts of the North, made four urgent demands.
These include the immediate deployment of elite security forces to restore peace in Benue, an independent probe into the political and economic motives behind the violence, public prosecution of those found guilty whether private individuals or public officials comprehensive support for victims and displaced families, and a national security overhaul built on transparency and inclusion.
The Forum stressed that the killings were preventable and the suffering unnecessary. The silence from the federal government, NEF said, has only made things worse.
Jiddere concluded with a warning: “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.”