The Northern Senators Forum and the Arewa Consultative Forum both demand urgent government action after the Binper attack, calling for compensation, drone surveillance, and a possible state of emergency in Plateau's flashpoint LGAs.
Abuja — August 20, 2026
The Northern Senators Forum (NSF), representing lawmakers from all 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, has demanded urgent action over the recurring killings in Plateau State, warning that condolences alone will not end the bloodshed.
In a statement issued Wednesday by the forum's chairman, Senator Abdulaziz Musa Yar'Adua, the NSF commiserated with families of victims of the August 18 attack on Binper community, where at least 25 people, mostly women and children, were reportedly killed, and described the incident as "one too many" following what it said had been three years of sustained attacks concentrated in Mangu, Bokkos, Barkin Ladi and other Plateau LGAs.
The forum called on the Plateau State Government to establish a transparent compensation and resettlement programme for victims and internally displaced persons, stressing that justice, not reprisal, must guide the state's response. It also urged genuine dialogue among farmers, herders, and traditional institutions to resolve underlying disputes over land use, grazing routes, and compensation for destroyed farms and homes.
Citing Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Constitution, which places the security and welfare of citizens among government's primary responsibilities, the senators called for the urgent deployment of drones, CCTV cameras, and early-warning systems in identified flashpoint areas, specifically naming the Ampang, Kombul, Mangu, and Gindiri axes, arguing that security efforts must shift toward preventing attacks rather than responding only after lives have already been lost.
The Northern Senators Forum's intervention came alongside a separate statement from the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), which went further in demanding that the Federal Government declare a state of security emergency in Plateau's most vulnerable and banditry-prone communities.
The ACF, through its National Publicity Secretary Tukur Muhammad-Baba, called for intensified intelligence gathering to establish both the immediate and underlying causes of the violence, alongside full compensation for victims and relief for the injured.
Together, the two statements add substantial political weight to a widening chorus of demands, from civil society groups, religious leaders, and Peter Obi's recent visit to attack-affected Benue communities for a fundamentally different security posture across Nigeria's North Central region.
As of this report, neither the Plateau State Government nor the Federal Government had issued a formal response addressing the specific demands for compensation frameworks, surveillance deployment, or a declared state of emergency.
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