The Alliance of Yoruba Democratic Movement (AYDM), a coalition of 130 pan-Yoruba and Itsekiri groups, has condemned in strong terms the recent massacre of over 200 innocent citizens in Yelewata, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, calling on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take definite and decisive action to stop the growing carnage in the state.
The coalition made the call at the weekend in a statement signed by its General Secretary, Comrade Popoola Ajayi, a copy of which was made available to newsmen in Lagos, noting that the string of attacks on Benue and the Middle Belt region was aimed at re-enacting the defunct Fulani-led 1804 Jihad.
This was just as AYDM expressed full support and solidarity with the people of the Middle Belt, disclosing its plans to visit Benue at the end of June. It sadly noted that the people of the South West shared a common fate with Benue and all states currently under extremists’ attacks, as no fewer than 50 Yoruba people living in the Middle Belt had been killed in terrorist-induced violence.
“The AYDM condemns in strong terms the recent massacre of over 200 innocent citizens in Yelewata, Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, between June 13 and 14, 2025. This atrocity marks a new low in the series of attacks being carried out by a well-funded network of Fulani militias, which continue to disguise themselves under various groups like Marmuda, Lakurawa and herdsmen, bandits.
“The terrorists employ kidnapping, bank robbery, selling of human parts, and the forceful occupation of indigenous land in a grand plot to wage psychological war on the people ahead of a planned nationwide Jihad,” the coalition said.
AYDM alleged that the attackers were determined to break the will of Benue and Plateau in order to ease advancement to Southern Nigeria, but quickly assured that the people of the South West were ready to stand shoulder-to-shoulder in the battles ahead.
The coalition, while further condemning the sad development, said not having a Fulani as the current President of Nigeria was being used as justification to drag the country to war, alleging that armed herdsmen were, at present, entrenched across the tropical and forest homelands of Nigerian indigenous peoples, waiting to attack at the slightest notice.
According to it, the chaos is already spreading to other parts of the North Central region, the South East and the South West, describing the situation as a looming national disaster.
It accused a section of the Fulani leadership of pursuing the age-long agenda of political domination and land grabbing, sadly recalling that since 2015, communities in Nasarawa, Plateau, and Benue States, including Agatu, Logo, Katsina-Ala, Gwer East and West, had been relentlessly attacked.
“Over 4,000 lives have been lost, with properties worth billions destroyed. Entire villages have been overrun, and indigenous populations forcefully displaced by strangers now occupying their ancestral lands,” it said.
AYDM warned that the growing boldness of the militias cannot be separated from the political calculations ahead of the 2027 General Election, saying there was a deliberate and dangerous buildup by vested interests who were weaponising politics as a tool for electoral manipulation and territorial conquest.
“President Tinubu must go beyond the usual ritual of issuing ineffective statements and must now match words with concrete action. The time to act is now — before the entire country is taken over by forces bent on its disintegration,” the coalition said.
AYDM, while expressing deep condolences to the families of the victims in Yelewata and across other affected communities, equally called on the Nigerian security agencies to go after the financiers and international sponsors of these terror networks and prosecute individuals aiding and abetting these crimes.
Besides, it strongly called on President Tinubu and the National Assembly to immediately initiate the urgent restructuring of Nigeria to ensure true federalism and restore the autonomy of the federating units, saying this was the only sustainable path to peace, equity, and national stability.
“Only a restructured Nigeria where every region can protect its land and people, control its resources, and govern itself in line with its values and aspirations can put an end to this madness,” AYDM said.
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