Nigeria is becoming synonymous with calamity. It is sad news all over. Yet, the country is not at war. The incidence of killings is scary. Human lives in Nigeria continue to lose that element of sacredness. When you think you have mourned the death of your fellow Nigerians enough and pretend to forget that calamity had ever stricken, some messengers of death—from ‘nowhere’—would just strike again.
Benue State witnessed the most recent widely reported senseless killings. I said ‘widely reported’ because killings are ongoing in several parts of Nigeria on a large scale without being widely reported (especially in rural communities in the North). For instance, killings in both urban and rural communities in a state like Katsina may not be widely reported since such violence has painfully become the norm. Human souls have become valueless in that part of the North so much so that their only message to President Tinubu when he visited them was “Katsina Ba Korafi.” This means “in Katsina, no complaint, all is well” despite all the killings.
The Tivs, the Idomas, and other ethnic groups in Benue State certainly still believe in the sacredness of the souls of their lost ones. This explains why they cried out about what looks like massacre—killing of about two hundred of their people at a go. Every sane human should hold the human soul sacred and dearly—irrespective of ethnic, religious, social, and other identitarian distinctions. I doubt if the elected rulers in Benue State believe in the sacredness of the souls of their people. Even if big billboards with “Benue Ba Korafi” were not mounted in Makurdi to welcome President Tinubu like those of Katsina, I can’t see a difference. If there is a difference in the manners of welcoming the President to a state that is soaked in blood, then, that of Benue State is even more disappointing than Katsina State.
When the President visited Katsina State, he was actually invited for merriments and to dance to the Omo Ologo’s lyric. But he was to come to Benue State to mourn and to commiserate with the bereaved. It was supposed to be a condolence visit. However, it was very unfortunate and very painful that Benue State Government, acting on the directive of Governor Hyacinth Iormem Alia, planned to welcome the President with fanfare. I thought it was a joke when I read that one Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Special Groups Mobilization was, by the directive of the Governor, to mobilize support groups to give the President a rousing welcome. I was wrong.
According to an official letter dated June 17, 2025, the support groups are expected to organize a shoulder-to-shoulder procession from the airport to the Government House in Makurdi. Not only that, to merit accreditation, a special instruction was given to support groups that accreditation will be done strictly by the numbers and colors.
The President was actually given a rousing welcome as the event eventually turned out to be a fanfare. To be fair to the President, even if he expected a rousing welcome as he likes to be praised (being Omo Ologo), he apparently did not demand a rousing welcome from the Governor. He was in Makurdi to pay a condolence visit. Yet, as the Nigerian ‘best’ President, I expected him to ask the Governor if his people were actually mourning or celebrating the killing of those who were gruesomely killed.
Regrettably, the President did not ask Governor Alia that single question. If he had asked him that important question, he would have taught him (Governor Alia) a subtle lesson that a responsible governor who lost about two hundred of those he was elected to govern in that gruesome circumstance should learn how to mourn. If our governor could not mourn for whatever reason, at least, he should have learnt how to pretend to be mournful.
Probably because President Tinubu saw the joyous atmosphere engineered by the governor and the smiling faces of the support groups who enthusiastically welcomed him in the warmest manner, he decided not to spoil the show. Therefore, he seized the opportunity to make that historic statement. That statement should be archived.
“They hate me like hell too, but I am here. I am the President, and under a democratic regime, I made a promise that I will even protect my abusers and accusers with the principles of democracy and freedom of prosperity. We will protect them! Abuse me all you want.”
This was said by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the occasion of his condolence visit after the brutal killing of about two hundred citizens of Nigeria in Benue State. Abuse Tinubu all you want for the above statement. If you like, condemn his statement as unpresidential. It isn’t his fault. Anyone who blames our dear President for his utterances in Makurdi on Wednesday should have a rethink. The President was influenced by the joyous atmosphere. Blame Governor Alia!
The President would have been moved to tears if he had met the people he came to pay condolence visit to in a sad mood. Governor Alia and his handlers would have actually looked sad and conducted themselves solemnly if they are serious people who understand the worth of the lost souls. If the Governor himself had appeared in a tattered cassock (being a priest) and had been weeping relentlessly over the lost souls, if the shoulder-to-shoulder procession were only made up of people in rags and whose clothes have the stain of blood, if those at the high table—very closed to where the President was seated—were the actual bereaved who looked disheveled and thin with sunken cheeks and hollow eyes, the President would have made a different remarks entirely. He must have shown the human and humane side of himself.
Notwithstanding, I praise President Tinubu for one of his remarks: “The value of human life is greater than that of a cow.” Under former President Muhammadu Buhari, the reverse was the case or seemed to be the case. We should thank Tinubu for setting the record straight. His visit to the hospital to see the injured is also commendably presidential.
Before I conclude. I will like to give the Tor Tiv this credit. If not for his brief address to the President, the atmosphere that should expectedly be a mournful one, would have been an entire fanfare. Prof. James Ayatse, the Tor Tiv, says The Tor Tiv said: “We do have a grave concern with the misinformation and misrepresentation of the security crisis in Benue State.” He continued: “Mr President, it is not herders, farmers clashes, it is not communal clashes, it is not reprisal attack. It is this misinformation that has led to suggestions such as, remain tolerant, negotiate for peace, learn to live with your neighbours.”
He further explained: “What we are dealing with here in Benue State is a calculated, well-planned and full-scale genocidal invasion and land grabbing campaign by herder terrorists and bandits. This has been on for decades and it’s worsening every year.” He cautioned: “Wrong diagnosis will lead to wrong treatment. We are dealing with something far more sinister than we think about. It not learning to live with your neighbours it is dealing with the war.”
He did not forget to mention the political dimension of the crises. According to him “Politicians in the state are busy politicizing the crisis, passing blames instead of joining hands to fight the crisis. We heard that there are some politicians who would even prefer that the crisis will worsen so that it will be a based for the declaration of a state of emergency in Benue State.”
If the government is interested in finding solution to the crises in Benue State, the Tor Tiv’s submission should be the starting point—whether one agrees with him or not. The Food Basket of the Nation should not become the Body Bag of the Nation. Enough of these senseless killings! My condolences to the bereaved.
Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com
