The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has disclosed that coordinated attacks by unidentified gunmen in Benue State have displaced 6,527 people comprising 1,069 households including 1,768 women, 759 men, 657 children under 18, 252 lactating mothers, 82 pregnant women, and 91 elderly individuals.
The recent and most severe assault struck Yelewata community in Guma LGA during the early hours of Saturday, resulting in numerous deaths, injuries, and destruction of homes.
NEMA confirmed that figures remain fluid due to restricted access to affected areas, and rescue efforts by the Nigerian Army and NSCDC have already seen two soldiers and one NSCDC officer killed in an ambush at Daudu, with 46 injured civilians taken to hospitals—20 of whom later died.
Reports from Amnesty International and local sources estimate the death toll in Yelewata alone at over 100, with many residents reportedly locked inside homes that were set ablaze.The conflict appears tied to long-running tensions between farmers and nomadic herders, common across Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
In response, emergency shelters have been opened at Makurdi International Market, where NEMA, SEMA, the UNHCR, Red Cross, and IOM are coordinating relief efforts. They are calling for urgent food, medical supplies, potable water, and blood donations, while security forces engage suspected attackers in an effort to restore stability
