Msurshima Apeh, a survivor of the Yelwata attack in Benue State, told the US Congress about her experience, including how she saw her five children being killed during the attack.
According to Channels TV, the victim testified yesterday before the House Subcommittee on Africa, which looked into President Donald Trump’s decision to put Nigeria back on the Country of Particular Concern (CPC) list.
She told the story of when armed men broke into the camp where hundreds of people who had been forced to leave their homes were sleeping.
“When we went to bed that night at 9 p.m., the Fulani terrorists attacked us while we were sleeping. We were stuck within the camp, Yelwata, and they were killing people with cutlasses and rifles.
“When the torture was over, they poured gasoline on the building and set most of them on fire,” she claimed from her home in Benue State.
The woman who was killed in Yelwata said she had to climb a tree to save herself while her children sobbed below.
“I observed a tree when I looked up during this action. I put my hands on the tree and climbed up to a place where I could conceal. She said, “The terrorists were killing my five children who were below me while I was there.”
She said that she eventually ran into the bush, where rescuers discovered her and took her to safety.
“I ran out into the bush at some point, and those who came to save me will eventually bring me out of there. I saw the whole thing happen.” The witness claimed, “When the people came, we were moved to a new camp.”
In June 2025, the Yelwata attack happened in the Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.
Reports said that more than 100 to 200 people had died and more than 3,000 individuals had to leave their homes. A lot of survivors were relocated to camps in Nasarawa State.
Civil rights groups disagreed with the government’s numbers, saying that as many as 200 people may have killed in that one attack. According to security officials, the attackers were thought to be armed Fulani herders.
People all around the country were angry about the murders. President Bola Tinubu spoke out against the incident, went to the hospitals to see the injured, and ordered a security reaction.
Later, emergency officials said that families who had to leave their homes were running out of food, medical treatment, and bedding. Later, the police said they had arrested 26 people in connection with the crime.
The attack brought more attention to the long-running dispute between farmers and herders in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and made people more worried about violence based on religion.
The victim’s testimony at yesterday’s hearing came after Trump’s decision in October to put Nigeria back on the CPC list. He said that Christians were being persecuted on a regular basis and that military alternatives were being looked at.
Trump’s statements made people even more angry over how Nigeria dealt with Islamist assaults, but the Nigerian authorities denied the assertions.
President Bola Tinubu declared that Nigeria supports religious freedom and that the government is not “religiously intolerant” toward its people.
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