Just two days after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu visited Benue State to promise action on the worsening insecurity, tragedy struck again. In the early hours of Friday, terror returned to the heart of Tarka Local Government Area, as marauding herdsmen launched a fresh assault on the peaceful Wannune community.
For many residents, it was a night of fire, fear, and flight. Homes were set ablaze. Crops and belongings, the result of years of hard work, were reduced to ash. And amid the chaos, frightened families—children and the elderly among them—fled into the surrounding bushes, their only hope being survival until sunrise.
A youth corps member serving in the community, his voice shaking with fear, sent out a desperate message:
“Everyone is running into the bushes for safety. Please let Nigerians pray for us. The herdsmen are ravaging the environment now.”
This isn’t the first time Benue has faced this horror. Just days earlier, the President had walked the blood-soaked ground of Yelewata community, where nearly 200 people were slaughtered in one of the worst mass killings in the state’s history. Tinubu’s visit, intended to show empathy and spur action, now feels like a distant memory to the people of Wannune.
During that visit, the President had directed the Inspector General of Police and the Chief of Defence Staff to bring the killers to justice. But to the people of Benue, those words now seem hollow—another promise lost in the echo of gunfire.
Many are questioning not just the government’s ability, but its willingness to stop the bloodshed. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar joined the chorus of concerned voices, calling the President’s visit “a political spectacle” rather than a serious commitment to peace.
“Theatrics cannot bring back lives,” his media aide, Paul Ibe, said. “What we need is leadership that acts, not just mourns.”
The repeated attacks are not just a Benue problem. They strike at the soul of the nation—a painful reminder that too many Nigerian communities still live in fear, abandoned, their cries drowned out by official statements and political optics.
What the people of Wannune—and all of Benue—desperately need is not just a visit. They need a plan. They need protection. They need peace.
And until that arrives, the haunting question remains: how many more must flee into the night before real action begins?
