Grief hangs heavily over the displaced families from Yelwata now sheltering in camps in Makurdi, the capital of Benue State. What began as survival after a brutal attack has turned into another painful chapter as authorities move to exhume mass graves to counter claims that the massacre never happened.
The June 13 to 14, 2025 attack on Yelwata in Guma Local Government Area left more than 200 people dead, according to community accounts. Armed men reportedly stormed the town at night, setting homes ablaze and trapping entire families inside. By morning, homes were reduced to ash and silence.
Months later, survivors are being asked to watch the earth open again.
Officials said the exhumation became necessary after reports circulated denying that any massacre occurred. A team from the Federal Ministry of Justice and the police Intelligence Response Team arrived to carry out the process.
For survivors like Jerry Ayem and David Ukeyima, the reopening of graves has reopened wounds that never healed. They escaped the flames by jumping from a burning building, but lost children, spouses and parents in the inferno. Ukeyima returned to Yelwata to witness the exhumation of his wife and five children.
“They first removed my first son,” he said quietly. Since that day, he has remained indoors, unable to face the world after seeing his child lifted from the soil.
Jerry could not bring herself to attend.
In the camp, grief is no longer loud. It is exhausted. Survivors say they are being forced to carry both memory and proof. For many in Yelwata, the demand for verification feels like a second violation.
What they seek now is acknowledgment, protection and justice without further cruelty.
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