Yelewata residents demand justice as trial begins over 2025 massacre
Residents of Yelewata in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State have called for justice as the Federal Government commences the trial of the principal suspect linked to the 2025
Residents of Yelewata in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State have called for justice as the Federal Government commences the trial of the principal suspect linked to the 2025 massacre in the community.
They urged the authorities to move beyond procedure and symbolism and ensure real, visible, and enduring justice for those killed and for survivors still living with the trauma of the attack.
According to the residents, Yelewata has effectively ceased to function as a living community since the massacre. Homes and streets remain deserted, reduced to silence and ruins.
The once-thriving town has become a ghost settlement, as surviving residents fled in fear—some to Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps, others to the homes of relatives in Makurdi and other relatively safer locations.
Community members said families have been uprooted, scattered and stripped of their sense of safety and belonging.
Survivors at one of the IDP camps recounted harrowing experiences, describing the events not merely as acts of violence but as profound personal losses and enduring trauma.
One survivor, Mrs. Josephine Aodaka, who escaped death but lost her husband in the attack, recounted the events of that night. She also spoke of a neighbouring family in which two young boys who had recently secured admission into Benue State University were killed alongside their parents and four other household members.
"Their dreams, hopes, and future were extinguished in a single night of bloodshed."
Aodaka also recounted the ordeal of her neighbour, Chinasa Ejiaka, who survived the massacre but whose pain remains unresolved.
"To this day, the whereabouts of her husband, Michael, and their two children remain unknown. They were taken by the violence of that night and have never been seen again. For their loved ones, the absence of answers has prolonged the trauma, replacing mourning with endless uncertainty and anguish.
"Entire families were wiped out. Neighbours watched helplessly as loved ones were slaughtered. Children were left orphaned, and women widowed, in a matter of moments. These were not isolated incidents; they were systematic acts of brutality that tore through the heart of the community."
Beyond the numbers and official reports lie shattered lives, broken families, and a community struggling to breathe under the weight of grief. Yelewata is not merely a name in a news headline—it is a symbol of lives cut short and futures violently erased.
Justice for Yelewata must not be delayed, diluted, or denied. It must speak for those who can no longer speak for themselves and restore a measure of dignity to the survivors who carry this pain every day. Anything less would amount to a second betrayal of a community that has already suffered too much.