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The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa, has revealed that some individuals in Benue State provided accommodation to armed criminals responsible for the recent deadly attack on the Yelwata community in Guma Local Government Area of the State.
According to the CDS, locals not only sheltered the assailants, but they also gave them food and women while acting as local informants to help the attackers identify the location of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in Yelwata.
Musa made the startling revelation at an expanded media interaction at Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Thursday, June 19, 2025.
He said these local elements aided the attackers in delivering a devastating casualty figure in the massacre.
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The Defence Chief explained that, acting upon intelligence about potential attacks in various communities across the state, troops were mobilised accordingly. However, after arriving at the initially mentioned locations, they realised the information was a hoax deployed to divert attention from the real attack.
Before troops could be redeployed, the attackers had already hit Yelwata using a hit-and-run approach, the CDS noted.
“These criminals were harboured by people in the community. They were given food. They were even given women. They were guided on where the IDP camp was located. Yet, security forces received no information,” Musa lamented.
Tinubu orders the tracking down of Benue killers
During his meeting with stakeholders at a town hall in Markurdi on Wednesday, President Bola Tinubu charged security operatives to go after the perpetrators of the killings and bring them to justice.
Reiterating the presidential order, the CDS said the Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, and intelligence agencies have been fully activated to track down the perpetrators and bring them to justice.
“This is why we consistently urge communities to be vigilant and report suspicious activities. Security is everyone’s responsibility,” he stated.
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General Musa used the occasion to appeal to the Federal Government to urgently address the issue of Nigeria's porous borders, describing the situation as a growing threat amid rising instability in the Sahel region.
He noted that there's an inflow of arms and fighters from crisis-hit countries like Sudan, Libya, and the Central African Republic, warning that these elements are exploiting Nigeria’s vast and unmonitored frontiers.