The Tor Tiv has told President Tinubu that the Benue crisis is not a herder-farmer clash but a long-term genocidal invasion misrepresented by security chiefs.
Tor Tiv warns Tinubu that security reports from top officials are dangerously misrepresenting the true nature of the crisis in Benue State.
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Speaking during a town hall meeting held in the wake of a brutal attack that claimed over 200 lives, the revered monarch, Professor Ortese Iorzua James Ayatse, directly challenged the narratives being fed to the Presidency.
President Bola Tinubu had travelled to the state to console grieving families and assess the security situation, but the Tor Tiv made it clear that the crisis goes beyond what the president may have been told.
Rejecting claims that the conflict stems from a farmer-herder dispute, the monarch said the attacks were part of a long-standing, strategic campaign of ethnic cleansing and land seizure.
“We do have grave concerns about the misinformation and misrepresentation of the security crisis in Benue State,” the Tor Tiv told the president.
“Your Excellency, it is not herder/farmer clashes, it’s not communal clashes. It’s not reprisal attacks or skirmishes.
What we are dealing with here in Benue is a calculated, well-planned, full-scale genocidal invasion and land grabbing campaign by herder terrorists and bandits, which have been on for decades.”
The traditional ruler criticised the messaging from the presidency, noting that repeated calls for tolerance and peaceful coexistence were misaligned with the realities on the ground.
He said such advice, including suggestions that Benue communities should “learn to live with their neighbours,” further proved that the president had been misinformed.
In his response, President Tinubu acknowledged the concerns raised and vowed to address the root causes of the violence.
He expressed deep concern over the slow response by security forces, particularly the police, who had failed to make any arrests even 72 hours after the deadly incident.
The president assured the people of Benue that his administration would pursue justice and ensure peace is restored in the region.
He added that no community in Nigeria deserves to live under constant fear or repeated displacement.
The meeting marked a critical moment in the national conversation around insecurity, as traditional leaders and affected communities continue to call for a more accurate and decisive response to rising violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
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The Tor Tiv’s statement has since sparked widespread public interest, with many Nigerians supporting the call for the federal government to re-evaluate its security strategies and acknowledge the true scope of the Benue killings.
