A survivor of the Yelwata massacre in Benue State emotionally recounted before the U.S. Congress how armed attackers killed her five children, intensifying scrutiny of Nigeria’s security crisis and its return to the U.S. CPC list.
A survivor of the June 2025 Yelwata attack in Benue State, Msurshima Apeh, gave a harrowing virtual testimony before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa on Thursday, recounting how armed men stormed a displacement camp at night and murdered her five children as she watched from a tree where she hid to save her life.
She described how “the Fulani terrorists attacked us where we were sleeping… they were butchering them with cutlasses and shooting guns,” later setting the building ablaze, and added, “My five children that I left below were crying, and in my presence, they were being slaughtered by the terrorists.”
The massacre, which killed an estimated 100–200 people and displaced over 3,000, drew national outrage, prompting President Bola Tinubu to visit victims, condemn the killings, and order security action, while police later arrested 26 suspects.
Her testimony came as U.S. lawmakers reviewed former President Donald Trump’s decision to return Nigeria to the Country of Particular Concern list over alleged religious persecution—claims the Nigerian government rejected, insisting the country is not “religiously intolerant.”