President Bola Tinubu is under intense criticism after describing the recent mass killing in Benue State as a “reprisal attack.”
Over 200 people were reportedly killed in Yelwata, Guma Local Government Area, during a brutal assault suspected to have been carried out by armed herdsmen.
While condemning the violence, President Tinubu, through a statement issued by his media aide Bayo Onanuga, referred to the massacre as part of a “latest round of reprisal attacks.”
The terminology used sparked outrage, particularly because no prior attacks were publicly reported that could have prompted such a “reprisal.”
The lack of clarification in the statement further fueled public anger.
Atu Terver, Principal Special Assistant on Youth and Media Mobilisation to the Benue State governor, wrote on Facebook:
“The President’s press statement is just making me shed tears. How can you call genocide a reprisal attack?”
Human rights activist Ukan Kurugh also reacted, slamming the presidency’s framing of the event.
“Bayo Onanuga, speaking for the President, called this a reprisal attack? Indeed, nobody is coming for us—we must save ourselves,” he wrote.
Aguredam Keghter Moses, Deputy Country Director of the African Youth Union Commission (Nigeria), added:
“That press statement from the President should already communicate a CLEAR MESSAGE.”
Many citizens have called on the federal government to take responsibility and respond with decisive action to protect lives, rather than downplay the severity of such attacks.
