Rights group HURIWA calls for Governor Hyacinth Alia's resignation after the Ayilamo attack, citing Amnesty International figures of 6,896 killed and 500,000 displaced in Benue since May 2023.
Abuja — September 12, 2026
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has called for the resignation of Benue State Governor Hyacinth Alia, accusing his administration of failing to adequately protect lives and property amid the state's persistent wave of attacks and killings.
The demand follows the attack on Ayilamo community in Tombo Ward, Logo Local Government Area, which this outlet covered in detail, an assault that police confirmed killed 11 people, comprising seven civilians and four mobile police officers, identified as ASP Paul Ina and Inspectors Mohammed Yusuf, Oge Ikechukwu, and Edeh Andrew.
In a statement by National Coordinator Emmanuel Nnadozie Onwubiko, HURIWA said the Ayilamo attack underscored the deteriorating security situation in Benue and questioned the state government's capacity to protect residents. "Governor Alia cannot continue to govern as if the persistent bloodshed in Benue is a normal security challenge," the group said, urging him to "accept responsibility for his administration's security failures and resign if he can no longer guarantee the protection of the people entrusted to his government."
To underscore the scale of the crisis, HURIWA cited figures attributed to Amnesty International showing that at least 6,896 people were killed in Benue between May 29, 2023, and May 2025, with all 23 local government areas in the state having suffered attacks and more than 200 villages sacked. The group also recalled the June 2025 Yelwata massacre in Guma LGA, which reportedly killed more than 100 people and displaced thousands, noting that Amnesty International subsequently reported more than 500,000 people displaced statewide.
HURIWA noted that Catholic leaders and other Benue stakeholders had previously raised concerns over the killings during engagements with US lawmakers, arguing that this international attention should have triggered a stronger, more coordinated response from federal and state authorities.
The group also expressed concern that political authorities were attempting to minimise the severity of attacks on vulnerable communities, insisting Nigeria must not normalise "terrorism, mass killings or the systematic displacement of rural communities."
Beyond demanding Alia's resignation, HURIWA called on President Bola Tinubu to strengthen security operations in Benue and ensure adequate protection for vulnerable communities. It urged the Federal Government and security agencies to identify and prosecute those responsible for the attacks, including any alleged sponsors, and to conduct a thorough investigation into the Ayilamo killings specifically.
The resignation demand adds significant weight to a rapidly building wave of criticism facing the Alia administration, arriving in the same week as the fallout from Peter Obi's blocked convoy and just months after Northern Senators, the Arewa Consultative Forum, and the Catholic Bishops' Conference issued similar demands for a fundamentally different security approach across the North Central region.
Whether this latest, more pointed call, explicitly demanding a governor's resignation rather than policy change, gains further traction is likely to become a defining test of how much political capital Benue's security crisis has cost Alia ahead of the state's already contentious 2027 election cycle.
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