A series of deadly assaults in Benue State, central Nigeria, has left at least 85 Christians dead within one week, highlighting the worsening security crisis in the country’s Middle Belt. The attacks, which authorities and residents have linked to Fulani armed groups, struck multiple rural communities in Gwer West and Apa counties.
On the evening of June 1, armed assailants reportedly arrived in convoys and carried out coordinated assaults on Tse Antswam near Naka town and the Edikwu-Ankpali area in Apa County. According to local reports, at least 43 people were killed in the incident. Prior to that, similar incidents in villages across Gwer West had already claimed 42 lives, forcing many residents to flee their homes.
The affected communities are situated in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, a region where land and water disputes between Christian farming communities and Muslim pastoralists have frequently escalated into violence. These tensions are especially pronounced between sedentary agricultural groups and Fulani herders, who follow a nomadic lifestyle and move across West and Central Africa.
Tse Antswam, located close to a Local Government Education Authority primary school and a federal dam site, recorded 17 deaths during the June 1 attack. The school is now serving as a temporary shelter for those displaced. Local security volunteers and police officers are reportedly guarding the area.
Patrick Modoom, a community leader, stated that 14 out of the 15 political wards in Gwer West have suffered attacks over the past year. He also expressed concern that no military intervention occurred despite the proximity of a checkpoint to the scene of the attack. According to him, residents were left to defend themselves without official support.
In the Edikwu and Ankpali areas of Apa County, 16 people were confirmed dead. Abu Umoru, a lawmaker in the Benue State House of Assembly, said several individuals remain missing, and community members are continuing search operations to locate them.
The same week, 14 women went missing after being abducted along Owukpa Road while traveling in a Benue Link bus from a market in Enugu State. Their location remains unknown, and no statement has been issued by the Benue State Police Command regarding the attacks or the abduction.
Security analysts describe Fulani militias as loosely connected groups made up of young men from the Fulani ethnic group. While many Fulani herders live peacefully in Nigeria, some have been implicated in forming armed groups that target Christian populations, particularly in areas where disputes over land and grazing paths are common.
Amnesty’s report also revealed that 672 villages have been overrun in Benue, Plateau, and Kaduna states. Most of these settlements were inhabited by Christian farming communities. The violence has resulted in widespread displacement and has deepened existing tensions over land rights, resource control, and political influence.
Benue Concern Youths, a local advocacy group, sent a letter to the state governor, Reverend Father Hyacinth Alia, expressing anger and despair over the persistent violence. The group’s spokesperson, Unaji Pax Romana, called on the governor to demonstrate leadership and provide reassurance to the affected communities.
