Join our WhatsApp channel HERE for the latest Benue news and updates!
A senior Nigerian statesman and former senator, Prof. Iyorwuese Hagher, has publicly described the security crisis in the Sankara chiefdom of north-east Benue State as a “genocide” and “holocaust,” claiming over 2,603 lives lost since 2015, the occupation of approximately 3,580 square kilometres (58.93% of Sankara land) by Fulani herdsmen and bandits, and the forced displacement of more than half a million people.
In a press conference address delivered on February 26, 2026, and widely shared on social media, Sen. Hagher accused successive administrations of denial, silence, and complicity in what he termed crimes against humanity and an organised campaign of violence, displacement, and destruction targeting the Sankara people. He stated that the scale of devastation in Sankara—a landmass larger than Ebonyi, Imo, and Anambra States combined—has been dangerously under-reported and deliberately concealed.
The former lawmaker highlighted the near-total collapse of social services in the affected corridor, including the closure of nearly all schools and health facilities for almost a decade, widespread malnutrition and stunted growth among children (as reported by UNICEF), forced early marriages for girls, and the recruitment of boys into banditry. He described abandoned villages filled with decomposing corpses, freshly dug graves, and an “eerie, deafening silence” during a recent escorted visit to his ancestral home in Kasar, Katsina-Ala LGA.
Sen. Hagher criticised the Benue State Government’s recent request for federal approval to establish a rehabilitation centre for bandits without first facilitating the safe return of displaced victims or ensuring justice, describing it as normalisation of criminality, weapons politics, and preferential treatment of terrorists over victims. He contrasted this with the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration’s partnership with the United States to support terrorism victims, accusing the state government of misplaced priorities and bearing criminal liability for genocide denial and protection of perpetrators.
The address called for urgent international and national action, including:
– Immediate safe return and protection of displaced Sankara people
– Declaration of a state of emergency in the Sankara axis
– Deployment of rights-respecting security forces to restore territorial control
– Establishment of an Independent Judicial Peace and Reconciliation Commission
– Fact-finding missions by the African Union, ECOWAS, and UN Human Rights Council
– Large-scale resettlement scheme with modern towns, hospitals, and police stations
– Securing ungoverned spaces between Kasar and Agu-Centre with a robust army battalion
Sen. Hagher warned that the ongoing violence threatens regional food security across West Africa, framing the crisis as “a war on farmers, a war on food, and a war on humanity.”
The statement has reignited debate over the characterisation of farmer-herder violence in Benue, with supporters echoing calls for stronger intervention while others urge caution against inflammatory language amid ongoing security efforts in the state. No immediate response has been issued by the Benue State Government or federal authorities to the specific allegations contained in the press address.
