By Aondona Iorliam Uhia
Sunday June 14, 2026
At Yelewata Community in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State yesterday Saturday June 13, 2026, a historic event took place in the form of a One Year Remembrance of the Victims of the Massacre that took place in the Community on the 13 and 14 of June, 2025 which saw about 271 persons, including Children, Women and Men, brutally killed via a well intentioned and carefully prepared and planned unwanted visit with Bullets, Machetes and Fire, while the victims were peacefully sleeping in their ancestral homes at night.
Delivering the Homily at the Memorial Mass, the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, Most Rev. Dr. Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe, CMF, said the event was about remembering our brothers and sisters who lost their lives gruesomely in that same place a year ago and the Blessing of the Yelewata Memorial Monument Wall built in remembrance of those who were murdered. He dispelled the misunderstanding from some quarters that the event was for something else other than the reason it was convened and tasked the media to always ensure that reportage is accurate and concise so as not to misrepresent facts or get people agitated.
The Bishop called on the Benue State Government and the Federal Government of Nigeria to call what is happening in Benue State and Nigeria at large what it truly is, a Genocide, which is been perpetrated by the Fulani Terrorists in Benue State and throughout the country and move to stop them completely which is what they can do but have refused to, thereby, going against the essence of Governance which is the Protection of Lives and Property. He called on the Government to get the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) back to their ancestral homes and restore their human dignity and stop playing politics with human lives by building unneeded shelters for them which cannot contain the families. He wondered why an attack that lasted for about 4 hrs right by a federal highway, situated in between two State Capitals of Benue (Makurdi) and Nasarawa (Lafia) about 50 KM each way will not have security operatives to intervene and wade off the attackers whose unwanted and unwholesome planned visit was reported in an interval of a month down to just hours before the attack occured cannot be stopped. He asked that the nonsense must stop.
Bishop Anagbe called on the Benue State Government to stop persecuting the Church as the sudden announcement by the State calling for a State Wide Sanitation on the day that the event was slated to hold is correctly viewed as an attempt to stop the event and thereby, a persecution the Church and Christians as sanitations doesn’t take place in the second week of any month and to think that a Priest is the State Governor is appalling. He said the situation is like reason has gone on recess and there is no conscience.
The Bishop appreciated Mr. Franc Utoo, Esq., a native of Yelewata for his consistent and unwavering calls for justice for the genocidal victims from the international community thereby calling the world’s attention to the sustained Genocide in Yelewata, Benue State and Nigeria in general. He asked God to bless and keep him safe.
Bishop Anagbe ended by praying for the repose of the lost souls and for theor loved ones to be consoled and be safe.
Granting some minutes to the Senate Minority Leader, Sen. Abba Moro, the Bishop explained that it was necessary because he is not a new face to Yelewatans as he is a constant visitor to their place and a foster father to one of their own, Mr. Franc Utoo, Esq. who has been at the fore front of the struggle for justice for his community. Sen. Moro, thanked the Bishop and the Church for the wisdom to hold the Memorial Mass to remember the victims and prayed that the Government will move to fulfill her obligation to the citizens which is protection of lives and property and delivering dividends of democracy to them. He prayed for the Souls of the victims and consoled their loved ones they left behind.
Speaking at the foot of the Yelewata Genocide Memorial Monument/Wall in a video interview with Mr. Aondover Lawrence Utsaha, a renowned Professional Architect who designed the Yelewata Monument, he gave an idea of the concept with which the monument was erected thus;
– From the Foundation to the tallest Part of the Building is 6 Meters high representing the month of June in which the Massacre took place.
– The Walls have names for Men, Women and Children written separately so that history will remember and appreciate the amount of generations to come that have been cut short because of the killings.
– The Cross in the Middle is supposedly 13 metres tall, representing June 13, the day that the Massacre took place.
– The joining of the Three Walls with a connection and the space in the middle represents those at the IDP camps and the entrapment they have found themselves in.
– The Walls inclining shows the decline of the lives that were lost; they had reached the peak of their lives and died; those who escaped and survived are trapped in the IDP camps as shown by the hollow created by the three walls joined together and some will climb out using the steps but those who climb out wrongly will fall in the hands of traffickers.
– The hollow pipes used to connect the walls if painted, over time due to exposure to sun and rain, it will fade off which represents the lives of those in the IDP camps – they will fade if they continue to live there and deteriorate.
– The aerial view of the Monument shows the form of the letter “Y”, which stands for YELEWATA.
Arch. Utsaha who is also an IDP as he cannot visit his village due to the same reason, insisted that the increase in human trafficking in Benue State is as a result of the killings which has taken some people into the IDP camps and as far as human dignity is concerned, they prefer to rather live some low life places elsewhere than remain in camps be treated like beggars. He went ahead to call on the Government to ensure that the IDP camps are closed and they are returned to their ancestral homes without delay.
The Yelewata Genocide Memorial Monument Wall tagged: The Monument of Blood, Faith and Resolve, was blessed by Bishop Anagbe in company of the Priests and Religious and all present.
The event was well attended by the Clergy from different denominations, the religious and lay faithful, the political class and people from all works of life.
