PRESS STATEMENT

June 16, 2025

Grassroots Center Condemns Killings in Benue, Calls On Security Agencies To Go Beyond Routine Measures

Grassroots Center for Rights & Civic Orientation strongly condemns last weekend’s attacks by terrorists in Benue State, which led to the death of over 200 residents. We mourn the victims of the Yelewata Community attack and previous dastardly killings across the country. We pray that the Almighty Creator grant the families of the deceased the fortitude to bear these painful losses. The mindless slaughter of people in Yelewata Community is one too many. Now is therefore the time for those charged with the responsibility of securing the nation to put on their thinking caps to end the bloodbath. It is unacceptable that life has become so cheap in Nigeria.

Grassroots Center equally finds it disheartening that the basic duty of government, which is the protection of lives and property, has been ineffective. What the current security framework has offered is a flat-footed, and sluggish strategy. From most of the cases of killings, which have happened, attackers swoop on communities, kill defenceless residents and slip away. Thereafter, public outcry will force the decision makers to issue vague and tepid directives, which are more or less euphemisms for the nation to await the next round of attacks by the marauders.

Unfortunately, the result of this reactive and passive security strategy is that hundreds of innocent and law-abiding citizens, who put their trust in government to protect them have been repeatedly left exposed and at the mercy of terrorists. The unending cycle of mindless violence in Benue, Plateau, Edo and other epicentres of herdsmen cruelty makes it evident that the current approaches to containing, and retaking the initiative from the killers, have not been effective. In terms of investigating, arresting, and bringing to justice the perpetrators of these evil acts, it appears that is not even on the table for discussion by law enforcement agencies. The perpetrators of these dastardly acts simply commit them routinely and slip away. The agencies responsible for enforcing law and order hardly bother to go them as the lurk in the shadows and wait for the next opportunity to strike.

It is no longer tenable, neither is it acceptable for Nigerians (men, women and children) to be routinely murdered by terrorists. The Nigerian State and those saddled with the task of securing the country must now put on their thinking caps and show the resolve to deal decisively with insecurity. Grassroots Center calls for an end to routine, perfunctory and ineffective strategies. We call on security agencies to immediately activate preventive and early warning approaches in the affected areas as a first step. Part of the broader strategy for prevention of these killings is ensuring strict surveillance of our porous borders and entry points. By various accounts, Nigeria has over 1200 borders and entry points, most of which is neither manned nor effectively monitored.

The porous nature of Nigerian borders and the difficulty in policing them brings in the role of technology. There is also the centralized character of our current security architecture, which means underserved communities in rural areas are left unprotected. While the recent initiative to introduce forests guards is laudable, there is a need to speed up such solutions to bring relief to rural farming communities, which have borne the brunt of these killings.

Nonetheless, the Nigerian people are tired of endless mourning and mass burials. Enough of the mindless slaughter of Nigerians! It is apparent that the regularity and the scale of the attacks, require urgent, decisive and out of the box thinking.

Grassroots Center similarly recalls that on page 5 of his campaign manifesto for the 2023 election, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu addressed the question of insecurity. He said: “The fundamental responsibility of government is to protect the lives and property of its citizens. We will mobilise the totality of our national security, military and law enforcement assets to protect all Nigerians from danger and from the fear of danger. We will expand and improve upon the use of technology, enhance recruitment of personnel, and bolster existing agencies and systems to achieve this fundamental national security goal.” The people of Benue, and other states who have been heavily terrorised have not felt the effects of these promises. Now is therefore the time for the President to push his team to do the needful to protect the precious lives and property of all Nigerians.

Signed:

Armsfree Ajanaku
Executive Director