A survivor of the June 2025 Yelwata massacre in Benue State, Msurshima Apeh, delivered a harrowing testimony before the United States Congress on Thursday, recounting how she witnessed the murder of her five children during the attack. Apeh appeared virtually before the House Subcommittee on Africa, which was reviewing former President Donald Trump’s decision to redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
Apeh described how armed assailants stormed a camp sheltering hundreds of displaced families in Guma Local Government Area.
“When we went to sleep that night around 9 pm, the Fulani terrorists attacked us where we were sleeping. We were locked inside the camp, Yelwata, and they were butchering them with cutlasses and shooting guns as well,” she said.
She added that the attackers set the buildings ablaze after the killings. “When the torture had finished at some point in time, they poured petrol on the building and the majority of them were set ablaze,” Apeh said from her base in Benue State.
Apeh recounted escaping by climbing a tree, helplessly watching her children being murdered below. “In the course of this action, I saw a tree when I lifted my eyes. I raised my hands on the tree and climbed up where I was able to hide myself. My five children that I left below were crying, and in my presence, they were being slaughtered by the terrorists,” she said.
She later fled into the bush and was rescued, eventually being relocated to a camp in Nasarawa State along with other survivors.
Initial reports estimated the death toll between 100 and 200 people, while more than 3,000 survivors were displaced. Civil organisations have disputed official figures, suggesting up to 200 people may have been killed in the coordinated assault. Security sources linked the attackers to suspected armed herdsmen.
The attack sparked national outrage. President Bola Tinubu condemned the killings, visited survivors receiving treatment in Makurdi, and ordered security agencies to act. Emergency response groups warned that displaced families faced severe hunger, limited medical care, and inadequate shelter. The police later announced the arrest of 26 suspects connected to the massacre.
Apeh’s testimony underscores the ongoing humanitarian and security crisis in Nigeria’s Middle Belt and has renewed calls for urgent protection of vulnerable communities.