The bloodbath in Benue State, particularly around the farming community of Yelewata, once again thrusts Nigeria’s North Central into the limelight – not for its rich soils, historic towns, or culinary heritage, but as a killing field where human life is bartered cheaply, and official empathy is rationed like famine aid. The reports are damning: over 100 lives snuffed out, entire villages razed, hundreds displaced – and yet, from Abuja to Makurdi, the fog of bureaucratic indifference floats freely.
The last weekend massacre, reportedly claiming upwards of 200 lives, should have been a national emergency. But what we got, initially, was a bland statement from the presidency calling for reconciliation – yes, with killers who shoot children and slit the throats of pregnant women. Cold-blooded murderers whose identities are either unknown or conveniently unacknowledged. Reconcile with ghosts? Or should we assume the government has a WhatsApp group chat with these faceless marauders?
It wasn’t until America sneezed – when a few Congressmen and the Pope raised their brows – that Nigeria reached for its hanky. Suddenly, the Inspector General of Police and the Chief of Defence Staff remembered that Benue was still on the map. By Monday, they were on the ground, cameras in tow, promising action and commiserations. But the question is not when they arrived; it is why they ever left. Why, after years of recurring attacks, do we still respond like shocked spectators rather than a sovereign with muscle and memory?
