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A Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) with the Intelligence Response Unit of the Nigeria Police Force, Moses Paul, on Thursday testified as the prosecution’s first witness in the ongoing Federal High Court trial over the June 13, 2025, attack on Yelwata community in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.
Led in evidence by the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, CSP Paul told Justice Joyce Abdulmalik that over 100 armed men, carrying AK-47 rifles, carried out the assault that killed more than 150 residents. He stated that the attackers initially targeted Dawududu community but diverted to Yelwata after meeting resistance, turning the location—which had become a refuge for displaced villagers—into the main site of the massacre.
The witness alleged that the nine defendants, arraigned on a 57-count charge bordering on terrorism under the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act 2022, were sponsored and funded by certain Fulani chiefs. According to his testimony, these chiefs convened several meetings between May and June 2025 in Nasarawa State, where funds were raised and plans finalized to execute revenge attacks on Benue communities over alleged killings of cattle and other perceived injustices against Fulani herders.
CSP Paul specifically claimed that one of the defendants, Ardo Lawal Mohammed Dono, confessed to attending meetings at his own residence in Nasarawa State, where he allegedly urged participants to carry out a revenge operation. Another defendant, Ardo Muhammadu Saidu (also known as Ardo Kadalko), reportedly confessed to losing about 250 cows and two children in a nearby community, providing motive for the alleged reprisal.
The witness recounted being in Apa, Benue State, on a kidnapping assignment when news of the Yelwata attack broke on June 13, 2025. He said his team was immediately drafted to the scene, and investigations commenced the following day, June 14. Arrests were subsequently made in Kadarko and Ageregu (border communities between Benue and Nasarawa States) as well as in Lafia, Nasarawa State.
CSP Paul added that investigations remain ongoing, with the possibility of additional arrests. The defendants, who pleaded not guilty when arraigned, are currently remanded at Kuje Correctional Centre. Justice Abdulmalik adjourned the matter to Friday, February 28, 2026, for continuation of hearing.
The Yelwata massacre remains one of the deadliest single incidents in Benue’s long-running farmer-herder conflict, drawing national and international attention to the security and humanitarian challenges in the North-Central region.
