Atiku fumes over Benue killings

Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned the bloodshed in Benue State, describing it as a brutal and heart-wrenching reality that can no longer be ignored.

Join the Premium Times WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.

Open in WhatsApp

Atiku, in a statement titled, “Enough is Enough: Benue Cannot bleed in silence,” on Monday, lamented that for years, families in the state have buried their loved ones in silence, villages ravaged, and communities shattered while those in power watch from a distance, offering nothing but hollow assurances.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that terrorists on Friday attacked the refugee town of Yelwata in Guma LGA of the state, killing over 100 people.

On Sunday, the police dispersed residents protesting the insecurity in the state following the killings.

Two weeks ago, the Chief of Army Staff, Olufemi Oluyede, relocated to Benue State to stem the violence.

Atiku, former presidential candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), argued that when citizens take to the streets to protest injustice, they are not inciting rebellion but teargassed.

“When citizens take to the streets to protest this injustice, they are not

Stay Ahead with Premium Times

Add as a preferred source on Google

inciting rebellion; they are crying for help. They are demanding what every Nigerian is constitutionally entitled to: the right to life and the protection of that life by the state. But what do they receive in return? Tear gas. Brutality. Disdain. It is pouring hot oil on an open wound,” he said.

Read the full statement

The bloodshed in Benue State has reached a devastating crescendo — a brutal and heart-wrenching reality that can no longer be ignored. For years, families have buried their loved ones in silence, villages have been ravaged, and communities shattered, while those in power watch from a distance, offering nothing but hollow assurances.

How much more must the people of Benue endure before their humanity is acknowledged? Their demand is simple: to live in peace, to sleep without fear, to farm without being slaughtered, and to raise their children without the constant shadow of violence.

When citizens take to the streets to protest this injustice, they are not

inciting rebellion, they are crying for help. They are demanding what every Nigerian is constitutionally entitled to: the right to life and the protection of that life by the state. But what do they receive in return? Tear gas. Brutality. Disdain. It is pouring hot oil on an open wound.

To unleash force on grieving, defenceless citizens is not governance, it is cruelty. It is a betrayal of the sacred duty of leadership. What kind of government meets a cry for safety with the barrel of a gun and a canister of gas?

The silence, the indifference, the lack of urgency, it is all damning. It speaks to a deeper rot in the conscience of leadership, a frightening normalisation of violence against the very people they swore to protect.

READ ALSO: Alleged Defamation: Court admits Atiku’s loyalist to N1 million bail

This is a call to conscience to every leader at both the federal and state levels: stop turning a blind eye while Benue drowns in blood. Stop offering condolences and start offering solutions. Work with security agencies, deploy resources, and craft a security architecture that prioritises human lives over political optics.

Benue is not alone. From Plateau to Zamfara, Kaduna to Taraba; the cries are the same. Nigerians are bleeding and begging to be heard.

We urge the people not to be silenced. Raise your voices. Demand accountability. Demand justice. Demand a government that sees you, hears you, and protects you.

History will not be kind to those who chose power over people. The time to act is now.

Signed:
Atiku Abubakar
Vice President of Nigeria, 1999-2007
Abuja
June 16, 2025.