Rising Tensions: Youths in Benue Set to Protest Rampant Insecurity
Amid growing insecurity in Benue State, the Edumoga Youth Association (EYA) has issued a stern warning, threatening to embark on mass protests if the government fails to urgently address the escalating wave of killings and kidnappings across the state.
The group, in a statement released on Monday by its National President, Alhaji Lucky Itodo, expressed deep frustration over what it described as the government’s inability to protect citizens, saying residents are fast approaching a breaking point where self-defence may become the only option left.
Reacting to the Sunday evening attack on a Benue Links bus by suspected kidnappers along the Otukpo-Otukpa highway in Okpokwu Local Government Area, EYA condemned the incident in which all 18 passengers were reportedly robbed and abducted.
“The security situation in parts of Benue State has deteriorated so fast that no place is safe for the people. It is either they [gunmen] follow you to your home or wait for you on the highway to be kidnapped,” the statement read. “We will no longer fold our arms and watch our people being wiped out or driven into poverty through ransom payments, while government remains silent and helpless.”
Alhaji Itodo lamented the state’s worsening insecurity, describing it as a siege on the people. “Blood continues to flow freely and millions are paid by families to free their loved ones, while government watches,” he added.
The association claimed that parts of Benue South, especially Otukpo and its environs, have become havens for criminals who operate with impunity—kidnapping, raping, and killing innocent residents without meaningful resistance.
“We have seen enough of these atrocities and we can’t take it any longer,” Itodo said.
According to the youth body, over 100 kidnapping incidents have been reported in 2024 alone, while hundreds of lives have been lost, often to suspected herdsmen. The group said the silence and inaction of political leaders is alarming, leaving the people to “live like sheep without a shepherd.”
EYA called on the state’s political leadership to rise to the occasion and fulfil its primary duty of protecting lives and property. It also urged security agencies to intensify efforts to rescue the kidnapped Benue Links passengers unharmed.
In the meantime, local vigilantes have been asked to strengthen their operations in response to what the group called “the enemies of the people.”
As of Monday evening, nearly 24 hours after the abduction, the kidnappers had yet to contact the victims’ families. Security forces, working alongside local hunters, were still combing nearby forests in search of the abductees.
