A Benue survivor recounts the night armed attackers stormed Yelwata camp, killing her five children and displacing thousands.
“I Watched My Five Children Slaughtered”: A survivor of the June 2025 attack in Yelwata, Benue State, told the U.S. Congress how she witnessed the brutal killing of her five children.
In June 13, 2025, Yelwata village was hit by a deadly attack that left over 100 people dead and forced about 3,000 others to flee their homes. Most of the victims, according to Pope Leo XIV, were internally displaced people staying at a local Catholic mission.
The attack was raised in the U.S. Congress during discussions on President Donald Trump’s decision to put Nigeria back on the Country of Particular Concern (CPC) list over reports of widespread religious persecution.
During her testimony before the House Subcommittee on Africa, Msurshima Apeh described the night of the attack. “The assailants stormed the IDP camp around 9 p.m., trapping families inside. They came where we were sleeping, armed with guns and machetes,” Apeh said. “They set fire to the building using petrol, and most of it burned down.”
For Apeh, a mother who had already fled previous attacks with her five children, that night became one she would never forget.
On that Thursday, speaking in a subdued but steady voice before the United States House Subcommittee on Africa, Apeh relived the moments that shattered her family forever. Appearing virtually from Benue State, she told American lawmakers how she watched helplessly as her five children were murdered in front of her.
“When we went to sleep that night around 9 pm, the Fulani terrorists attacked us where we were sleeping,” she continued.
“They locked us inside the camp and were butchering them with cutlasses and shooting guns as well.”
A Night of Horror for Apeh
Hundreds of displaced families were sheltering after fleeing earlier violence in Guma Local Government Area.
As the killings continued, the attackers set the buildings ablaze.
“When the torture ended, they poured petrol on the building, and most of it was set ablaze,” Apeh recalled.
“I scrambled up a tree and hid, watching in horror as my five children cried below while the attackers struck them. I raised my hands on the tree and climbed higher, trying to make myself invisible. My children were screaming, and I could only watch as they were slaughtered.” she continued.
Apeh stayed in the branches, witnessing her world collapse beneath her, unable to descend, unable to save her children, and unable to forget the night. Later, she ran through the bush to escape and was eventually rescued and relocated to another camp.
The Yelewata attack, believed to have been carried out by armed herdsmen, left scores dead, including civilians and security personnel. Among the fatalities were five security officers; two soldiers, a police officer, and two others. The assailants also set homes, shops, and market stalls on fire, forcing hundreds to flee, and a single family of 15 was entirely wiped out during the raid.
Meanwhile, U.S. Congressman Riley Moore has urged the Nigerian government to grant clemency to Sunday Jackson, a farmer sentenced to death for allegedly killing a Fulani herdsman in self-defense, highlighting ongoing tensions and the cycle of violence in the region.
Eventually, she fled into the bush where she was later found by rescue teams and evacuated to safety.
A Massacre That Shook the Nation
The attack on Yelwata in June 2025 was one of the deadliest in recent years. More than 100 people were believed killed, though civil rights organisations insist the toll was closer to 200. Some 3,000 survivors were displaced, many relocated to camps across Benue and neighbouring Nasarawa.
Images of burnt houses, scattered belongings and charred compounds shocked the country and reignited national alarm over deteriorating security in the Middle Belt.
Government Intervention
According to UNICEF, on the night of the attack, SEMA evacuated affected families to the International Market using 25 buses and provided two water tanks to meet immediate needs.
NEMA delivered 400 bags of rice, spaghetti, and maize, along with 300 mattresses, 300 mosquito nets, and 300 blankets. The Benue State Ministry of Health also deployed two doctors to support the medical clinic set up at the Modern Market IDP Camp in Makurdi.
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu visited survivors in Makurdi hospitals and ordered an immediate security response. Police later announced the arrest of 26 suspects.
But even with government action, the incident deepened growing anxiety over ongoing farmer–herder violence an increasingly volatile conflict that sits at the crossroads of land pressure, ethnic tensions and religious identity.
International significance
Apeh’s testimony took on international significance because it came during a hearing examining US President Donald Trump’s decision to return Nigeria to the Country of Particular Concern (CPC) list for religious persecution.
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Trump argued that Christian communities were being targeted without sufficient government protection and suggested that military options were being considered.
His decision has sharpened global attention on Nigeria’s handling of extremist attacks.
The Nigerian government, however, rejects the allegation. President Tinubu insists that Nigeria protects freedom of worship and is not religiously intolerant.
A Voice for the Dead
For Apeh, the hearing was not about geopolitics, Washington, Abuja or policy assessments. It was about speaking for her five children who did not live to grow up.
Sitting in her home thousands of miles away from the Congress floor, she told her story so the world would not erase theirs.
She ended with no dramatic flourish only the quiet, enduring grief of a mother who survived the night her family did not.
And in that silence, her testimony travelled far beyond the walls of Congress.
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