Makurdi, June 19, 2025 – President Bola Tinubu has proposed the creation of a peace committee to check perennial communal clashes in Benue State.
Tinubu made the proposal during a town hall meeting with stakeholders on Wednesday in Makurdi during a visit after a recent communal attack in Yelwata where about 200 lives were lost.
He had earlier visited victims of the attack at the Benue State University Teaching Hospital in Makurdi where expressed concern over the rising death toll rate.
The president said he would want the creation of the peace committee before a meeting in Abuja to really fashion out the nucleus for a lasting peace.
Tinubu suggested the inclusion of former Benue governors and traditional rulers in the committee.
The president decried the failure of security agencies to arrest any of the perpetrators of the Yelwata incident and advised them to act more swiftly in future.
“Police, how come no arrest has been made? I expect there should be an arrest of those criminals.
“Christopher (the Chief of Defence Staff), you have given much. I watch your comments, you can’t be tired of staying in the bush. Oloyede and the Air Marshal, we thank all of you, but we need to keep our ears to the ground, let’s get those criminals, let’s get them out.
“DG NIA, DG SSS, retool your information channels, and let’s have tangible intelligence so that this will not occur again,” he said.
Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State, some state governors, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu, Secretary to the Government of the Federation George Akume, service chiefs and some traditional as well as political leaders were at the town hall meeting.
