Residents of Yelwata in the Guma local government area of Benue state staged a protest on Monday after three people were killed and three others wounded in an early morning attack.
The demonstrators, displaying the bodies of the dead, blocked the federal highway linking Makurdi, Lafia, and Abuja, paralysing traffic for several hours.
Achii Mathias, a local youth leader, alleged that the attackers—believed to be armed herders—may have spent the night in the community before launching the assault at around 7am.
“Despite the presence of about 200 security personnel in Yelwata and its environs, they still attacked in broad daylight,” Mathias told reporters, adding that senior local officials, including the governor’s security adviser, were already on the scene.
Joseph Har, the governor’s special adviser on security and internal affairs, confirmed the killings, saying they occurred in a village near Yelwata. The police spokesperson for Benue State, Udeme Edet, said she would comment after receiving full details.
Yelwata has been the site of repeated violence. On 13 June, around 200 people were reportedly killed in a midnight assault on the community, sparking widespread condemnation, including from President Bola Tinubu and Pope Leo XI.
