The June 13-14, 2025 violence against Yelwata, a Christian majority farming community in Benue State, Nigeria, is one of the most lethal incidents in the recent spate of violence in the country. Armed to the hilt, Fulano militants invaded the village in the night, burned down houses, markets, and internally displaced persons who had earlier fled conflict areas in the area. It was reported that a well-structured attack was carried out as gunmen stormed the settlement and killed people indiscriminately with military-grade weapons and left a trail of destruction as a result.
Government estimates put the number of people killed to 59, but local authorities and community groups show that more than 200 were killed. The difference can be attributed to the fact that Nigeria is grappling with the issue of underreported rural violence. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) reported that the incident displaced more than 3,900 individuals, most of whom ran off barefoot into the adjacent bush before they fled into temporary shelters near Makurdi.
Its consequences have been devastating and there has been a severe humanitarian crisis. Survivors report of burned buildings and corpses and emergency agencies are flooded by the magnitude of the disaster. Relief organizations struggled to meet the logistical challenges of delivering aid to the region with destroyed roads and ongoing insecurity in the region, as hospitals all over Benue State soon became overcrowded with casualties.
Deepening displacement and humanitarian needs
The sudden influx of nearly 4,000 new internally displaced persons (IDPs) into the abrupt arrival of almost 4,000 new internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the existing camps in Benue revealed the acute lack of resources. Plants that were meant to accommodate several hundred families are accommodating thousands of people and this has created an environment that is conducive to disease outbreaks and social conflicts. Crowded shelters have inadequate sanitation whereas water shortage makes inhabitants tap polluted streams. Food supplies become low and aid workers tell of children who become dehydrated and starving.
As the local economy was destroyed as the farms of Yelwata, who was the central part of the family, were destroyed, many of the displaced families were deprived not only of their home but also of their means of livelihood. The humanitarian agencies cite that displaced persons are highly vulnerable to exploitation and gender-based violence. These communities have practically no access to legal protection or other main services and can rely only on stretched thin relief organizations.
Medical and psychological trauma
Even physical injuries are not the end of the medical crisis. The local hospitals are unable to handle cases of trauma in the process of treating widespread cases of infections occasioned by unsanitary conditions in the displacement areas. Since the attack, there are spikes in cholera, malaria, and typhoid cases that have been confirmed by the health officials in Makurdi.
Mental health care is also necessary. There are post-traumatic stress symptoms such as nightmares and social withdrawal that are exhibited by the survivors, especially the children. Aid workers insist that psychological recovery is the only way to heal, but the mental health services are limited. The social structure of the communities affected by mass violence is still being torn apart by the trauma of witnessing mass violence, which disrupts the cycles of fear and mistrust.
The conflict dynamics driving violence in Benue
The Yelwata massacre can be part of a larger trend of increasing tension between Fulani herders and the mainly Christian agricultural groups in the Middle Belt of Nigeria. Fighting over land and water resources has increased as climatic changes drive pastoralists communities to the south to find grazing land. Deforestation of farmland and unpredictable weather has helped breed bitterness in farmers who perceive it as an economic and existential encroachment.
The ethnic and religious overtones of the conflict make it volatile. The Fulan herders who are mostly Muslims and Christian farmers have turned out to be a symbol of greater national separation with regard to the identity, administration and resource control. This polarization has enabled the extremist networks to penetrate and capitalize on the local grievances and community conflicts with the extremists becoming structured campaigns of terror.
The role of impunity and state weakness
Such atrocities, according to the analysts, are facilitated by long-term lapse of governance and security. The attack on Yelwata happened with little preventive measures despite warnings by the leaders of the community. The security forces came hours later in the aftermath of violence leading to the allegation of negligence or complicity. Impunity that prevails i.e. with attackers hardly ever prosecuted encourages the militias to operate.
Cohesion of a nation is also weakened by weak institutional response. The frustration of the government has led to the increased arming of the local vigilante groups who have crossed the border between defending and retaliating. Lack of justice systems contributes to mistrust and increases the periods of retaliation violence that displaces thousands annually.
National and international responses
President Bola Tinubu denounced the Yelwata killings, and vowed to bring justice and bring peace to the Benue State. But, in other areas, there is little advancement. Investigations have also been halted due to bureaucracy which is taking too long and the survivors also demand more security personnel to deter future attacks. According to the critics, the overstretched military in Nigeria that is currently involved in anti-insurgency against the northeast cannot effectively cover rural populations in the central region.
The international human rights bodies such as Amnesty International and the International Crisis Group have called on the Nigerian government to intensify the security of vulnerable groups and provide humanitarian access to crisis-prone areas. In the meantime faith-based organizations in Africa and Europe have organized funds to give donations to displaced families and this is indicative of increasing international concern over the Nigeria internal displacement crisis.
An uproar was followed by religious leaders such as Pope Leo XVI who termed the Yelwata massacre as a sore blow to mankind. His statements once again called on the United Nations and African Union to apply pressure to Nigeria to undertake justice and reconciliation issues. However even with moral solidarity there is little physical international response to this and most of the response is handled by the local authorities and NGOs.
Long-term challenges and paths to recovery
Other than emergency relief, long term recovery of Benue depends on livelihoods restoration and restorative community confidence. Most of the displaced dwellers complain that they would like to go back home but are afraid of being targeted again in case there is no guarantee of being safe. Rebuilding of critical infrastructure: schools, clinics, and roads are being built gradually, with insufficient funding and continuous attacks by military organizations.
Mediation efforts of land-use between herders and farmers are being made by local peace efforts with the assistance of faith-based organizations and elders in the community. As much as these dialogues have an initial positive beginning, they need government approval and implementation to become permanent solutions. It is also essential to tackle the root cause of the problem of economic disparity and the lack of resources to end the cycle of violence.
The importance of international partnership
Nigeria has received financial and technical assistance from Kuwait, Germany and the European Union towards its humanitarian work, and this is an aspect that requires a form of coordination by efforts of the region in terms of their security. Analysts emphasize that international interactions should not be fueled solely on aid but rather the emphasis should be to build the institutional capacity of Nigeria to mitigate and forestall such crises.
Better data gathering of displacement patterns, migration due to climatic factors and competition within the area could be used to forecast flashpoints in future. A combination of efforts of the security agencies and environmental experts in the region can also reduce tensions through better policies on land management and water distribution.
A fragile peace amid enduring uncertainty
The effect of the humanitarian crisis that may follow the Yelwata attack in Nigeria in 2025 highlights the human toll to the current insecurity situation in the Middle Belt of the country. To survivors, day to day life is about survival, grieving and shaky hope of rejoining. Their strength resembles that of Nigeria in its general challenge of balancing diversity against peace, governance against justice, and development against security.
The lessons of Yelwata have resounded throughout the world. They take policymakers around the world to reconsider the intersection of humanitarian intervention, conflict prevention, and climate adaptation in the case of fragile states. Whether the leaders of Nigeria can make a tragedy a reform or not, is yet to be seen but as they must act no better time to do so has been evident.
Whether the country can get over grieving to a significant transformation is now the question here to move before the history re-creates itself in another obscure village in the front lines of an invisible war.