Atiku condemns unleash of terror on Benue protesters
…says Benue cannot bleed in silence
By Tunde Opalana
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has condemned the clamping down of aggrieved people protesting the continued killing of their kinsmen in Benue State.
Angered people of the state, mostly youths on Sunday barricaded the Abuja- Makurdi highway to registered their grievances at the Nigerian government over the recent massacre of over 200 persons by unknown non- state actors.
Atiku in a personally signed statement on Monday said there is no justification by the authorities to suppress aggrieved citizens for crying out for help to save their land from being wiped out by marauders.
READ ALSO: TikToker Jarvis Opens Up on Childhood Struggles, Forced Labor
He said what the protesters did was just make a bold statement that the bloodshed in Benue State “has reached a devastating crescendo, a brutal and heart-wrenching reality that can no longer be ignored.
According to him, 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?,” he asked.
He said the demand of the protesters 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.
“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?
“The silence, the indifference, the lack of urgency, it is all damning. It speaks to a deeper rot in the conscience of leadership, a frightening normalisation of violence against the very people they swore to protect.”
He said this is a call to conscience to every leader at both the federal and state levels: 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 prioritizes 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.
He urged the people not to be silenced. “Raise your voices. Demand accountability. Demand justice. Demand a government that sees you, hears you, and protects you,” he added.
