In the stillness of dawn on April 2, 2025, the cries of terrified villagers shattered the peace in Bokkos, Plateau State. Armed men again had descended on the community, riding on motorcycles in their large numbers.
Hours later, scores of bodies lay still, homes set ablaze, and families torn apart. It was another bloody chapter in the ongoing crisis engulfing central Nigeria, a crisis that continues to claim lives with reoccurring regularity in Plateau and Benue states.
The recurring violence in these regions has long been attributed to clashes between nomadic herders and local farmers. But observers say the situation has mutated far beyond mere resource conflicts.
What began as disputes over grazing routes has evolved into a complex web of ethno-religious violence, political marginalisation, and state neglect.
A history of pain
Plateau and Benue, often referred to as the Middle Belt of Nigeria, have seen waves of violence for over two decades.
These are lands of fertile soil, crisscrossed by rivers and valleys, coveted by both farming communities and pastoralists.
Meanwhile, as climate change, population pressures, and land scarcity intensified, so did the conflicts. But in recent years, 2025 in particular, attacks have become more frequent, more coordinated, and more deadly.
In December 2023 alone, more than 200 people were killed in Christmas Eve massacres in Bokkos and Barkin Ladi local government areas. Entire villages were razed overnight, AFRIPOST reported.
Witnesses recounted tales of children burned alive, families shot in their sleep, and communities left with nothing but battered memories.
This publication also reported that in March 2025, in Benue’s Katsina-Ala region, 11 people were killed in coordinated attacks across three communities.
The state government pointed fingers at suspected Fulani militias, who allegedly launched the assaults in the middle of the night. Governor Hyacinth Alia condemned the attacks, but his words offered little comfort to grieving families.
Faces of the forgotten tell their tales
Esther Nyam, a 42-year-old widow in Mangu, Plateau State, watched helplessly as her husband and two sons were gunned down during a raid.
“I screamed until I lost my voice. They came in numbers, shooting anything that moved,” she said, sobbing on a live interview.
“Now I live with my daughters in a camp for displaced people, not knowing if tomorrow we will eat or be attacked again”, she narrated during her live chat with a popular media house.
Her story is echoed by thousands. Displacement camps across Benue and Plateau are overflowing. Children miss out on school. Pregnant women give birth in unsafe conditions. Trauma is untreated, and the future remains uncertain.
Communities fight for peace
As the silent war rages on, on May 10, 2025, Christian leaders in Plateau marched through Jos in the “2nd Peace Walk Against Continuous Killings.”
Dressed in black and clutching placards that read “Enough is Enough” and “Stop the Genocide,” the protestors demanded urgent action from the federal government.
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) described the attacks as targeted and systemic. “Our people are being killed daily, yet the government’s response is tepid at best,” said a Reverend and one of the organisers. “This is no longer conflict. This is annihilation.”
Government and its usual tepid response
In the face of mounting casualties and global outcry, President Bola Tinubu ordered security agencies to fish out the perpetrators. Yet, many Nigerians believe this is another in a long list of empty promises. Despite curfews and military deployments, the killings persist.
On May 9, 2025, the Nigerian military disclosed that a significant portion of the recent violent attacks and killings in farming areas of Plateau and Benue regions are being carried out by foreigners from outside the country, rather than Nigerian nationals.
The Army revealed that these foreigners are herdsmen who entered Plateau, Benue and other States in the country through illegal means and porous borders with less security
Director of Defence Media Operations, Maj.-Gen. Markus Kangye pointed out that intelligence reports and evidence gathered on the ground suggest that most of the assailants entered Nigeria illegally, particularly from countries in the Sahel region.
Foreigners or no foreigners, citizens of Nigeria are being slaughtered nearly daily, and the response from Nigerian authorities remains porous and tepid as usual.
Violence in Plateau, Benue, deeper national failure – Experts
Human rights groups argue that the government’s failure to prosecute known attackers only emboldens them.
“When there is no justice, impunity thrives,” Nkem Ifeanyi, an Abuja-based conflict analyst, told AFRIPOST. “The attackers know they can strike and disappear without consequence.”
Dr. Amina Yusuf, a conflict resolution specialist, emphasises that the violence in Plateau and Benue is a symptom of a deeper national failure.
She said, “What we’re witnessing is a collapse of local conflict resolution systems and the absence of political will to prosecute perpetrators.
“Unless the government decentralises security and empowers traditional and community leaders to mediate locally, these killings will continue unabated. Justice must be visible and consistent.”
A worsening humanitarian crisis
According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), estimates over 300,000 people have been displaced in Plateau and Benue since 2022.
Camps are understaffed, underfunded, and overwhelmed. Hunger, malnutrition, and disease loom large.
International aid agencies have stepped in, but they, too, are stretched thin. With crises flaring in other parts of the country, from Boko Haram in the Northeast to bandits in the Northwest, resources are divided.
A cry for justice, lasting peace
What will it take to end the silent war? Community leaders have called for more than military might. They want justice. They want a government that listens. They want peace initiatives led by locals and supported by all tiers of government.
However, as the sun sets over the blood-stained hills of Plateau and Benue, the people of these states continue to hope, not for miracles, but for justice, dignity, and peace.