Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has told President Bola Tinubu and Benue State Governor. Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia to stop turning a blind eye to the killings in the North Central state.
In the past two days, over 200 people had been killed in attacks on communities across the state.
In a message on X on Monday, the former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party said that the bloodshed has reached a devastating crescendo, a brutal and heart-wrenching reality that can no longer be ignored.
He added that too many people in the state had died, and families destroyed, while the government is not doing enough to protect them.
Atiku wrote: ‘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’.
He also condemned the police for firing tear gas to disperse protesters in the central city of Makurdi on Sunday, as anger mounted over the killing of dozens of people by gunmen in a nearby town.
He stated: ‘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, defenseless 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’?
Atiku then called on the conscience of every leader at both the federal and state levels to 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’, he said.
The former Vice President urged Nigerians not to be silenced, saying, ‘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’, he charged.
