One year after the unprovoked jihadist attack during the early morning of June 14, 2025 that killed 270 innocent people of Yelwata, the local community with their bishop and priests celebrated a Holy Mass in remembrance of the tragedy.
The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi, Bishop Wilfred C. Anagbe CMF, has shepherded his community through many difficult times, listening to the stories of displaced families, sharing their pains, sorrows and struggles, caring for their needs across IDPs, and burying their dead.
During the Memorial Mass and blessing of the site that was erected by Equipping the Persecuted – an organization who has been doing great works for the victims and their families, Bishop Wilfred gave a homily focusing on the tragedy and all of its consequences: lost lives, ruined families, destroyed properties, and the unjust government's plan for resettlement which systemically supports the goal of the Jihadists to erase the people from their communities. "Who would occupy their ancestral lands and homes?" he asked. He called on his people to resist injustice and evil, and not to lose hope, but continue believing in the victory of good over evil.
The Yelwata Memorial is a call to Nigeria's conscience to confront evil with truth, justice, and love, to remember the victims with dignity, and to ensure that their suffering is neither ignored nor forgotten.
Benue State has experienced several jihadist attacks that a people once famous for their agricultural productivity defining their state as the "Basket Food of Nation," now find themselves displaced in various camps, where they depend on aid for survival, and with no hope of retuning to their ancestral lands.
May God rest the victims, heal the wounded, console mourners, return to exiled, and protect the living. Amen.