Women from the North Bank area, a suburb of Makurdi, the Benue State capital, on Friday took to the streets in a passionate protest against the rising insecurity and alleged indiscriminate arrests of civilians in their area.
The aggrieved women, wielding leaves and chanting solidarity songs, blocked the busy federal highway near the Agan toll gate, causing a temporary disruption of vehicular movement.
Speaking to journalists during the protest, some of the women expressed deep concern over what they described as a disturbing surge in arbitrary arrests by security agencies operating in the North Bank area of Makurdi.
According to the protesters, security operatives have allegedly intensified arrests of “able-bodied civilians,” while failing to adequately tackle threats posed by armed herders who, they claim, continue to attack communities across Benue State.
“In just one day, 50 innocent persons were arrested in North Bank, and it’s happening every day,” one of the protesters lamented.
“We live in fear—not only of Fulani herdsmen who attack us—but now also of security agencies who come and pick up our husbands and sons for no reason.”
The women accused security forces of targeting innocent residents instead of focusing their efforts on apprehending criminal elements among armed herders who, they allege, are responsible for killings and attacks in parts of Benue State.
“Our people are tired of these unnecessary arrests. The security should go after the real criminals, not innocent citizens,” another protester demanded.
Residents of North Bank, Makurdi, have in recent months repeatedly raised the alarm over escalating insecurity and violent attacks attributed to suspected Fulani herders, leaving many displaced and deepening fear across affected communities.
Over 100 people were confirmed to have been killed in an attack by gunmen on the Yelewata community in the Guma Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, Nigeria, on June 13.
Some reports indicated that the final death toll could be as high as 200.
According to the report, the terrorists initially targeted the Yelewata mission site, which shelters over 400 internally displaced persons (IDPs), at approximately 10 pm on June 13, but were repelled by military personnel.
The assailants subsequently attacked the Yelewata Main Market, setting buildings on fire and mutilating and burning the bodies of victims, some of whom were trapped in their homes.
Witnesses report that the attackers chanted ‘Allahu Akbar’ and suggested that the operation bore the hallmarks of ethnic cleansing.
The attack followed several days of terrorist violence in Guma. On June 8, two farmers were killed and a third was seriously wounded when they were fired upon whilst working in their fields in Udei in the Nyiev Council Ward.
On June 11, two people were killed in a machete attack in Tse Ivokor, Unongu, and the following day, five people were killed in an ambush on farmlands in Daudu as they were searching for the bodies of those who had died in the previous day’s attack.
Another search party comprising four people was killed on June 13, also in Daudu, while five others were killed and eight were injured in an attack on the Akondutough community in North Bank in the neighbouring Makurdi LGA.
The Benue NGOs Network estimates that over 5,700 lives have been lost to terrorist violence that has been ongoing in the state since 2011, with more than 150,000 people displaced.
Over 6,500 were reportedly displaced in a single wave of violence in June 2025, with 2,843 new arrivals recorded at IDP sites in just one week in February 2025.
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