By Olufunke Baruwa

In the heart of Nigeria’s Middle Belt, a region once known for its scenic beauty and cultural diversity, a grim and persistent crisis endures. Home to large Christian populations, the region has continued to reel from waves of violence that have left thousands dead or maimed, villages destroyed, and communities displaced.

Despite years of reports, pleas, and government interventions, the killings have intensified as part of a broader pattern of ethno-religious and communal violence that has plagued Nigeria for decades. However, the scale and persistence of attacks on farming communities have given the conflict a uniquely tragic dimension.

In Plateau State, once the home of peace and tourism, the crisis dates back to 2001, when riots in Jos claimed over a thousand lives. What began as sporadic religious tension has since evolved into a relentless campaign of terror, largely targeting rural communities. These attacks, often attributed to militant herders and sometimes jihadist elements, have increased in sophistication and brutality. Entire villages have been razed, churches burned, and families wiped out overnight.

Benue State, the “Food Basket of the Nation,” has seen an uptick in retaliatory violence since the implementation of the 2017 Anti-Open Grazing Law intended to regulate the movement of herders. Farming communities, predominantly Christian and largely Tiv and Idoma, have borne the brunt.

In his Easter message, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto lamented that Nigeria is “gradually becoming a huge national morgue” and urged the President to urgently address the nation’s security challenges. He noted that the ongoing violence is not merely a result of herder-farmer clashes but reflects deeper issues of religious and ethnic intolerance.

Addressing the broader implications of the violence, Bishop Kukah warned against the temptation for communities to resort to self-help or form militias, which could further destabilise the nation. He emphasised the importance of a professional and accountable military force in restoring peace and order.

Targeted, Systematic, and Underreported Violence

In January, over 30 people were killed in a coordinated night raid in Mangu LGA of Plateau State. Eyewitnesses described gunmen moving from house to house, raping women, executing families and torching homes.

In March, another massacre in Kwande LGA of Benue State left 25 villagers dead, including many women and children. Survivors fled into the forests barefoot, returning days later to the charred remains of their homes.

Over the Easter period, when Christians celebrate hope and renewal, communities were once again plunged into mourning with a series of brutal attacks. In Plateau State’s Bokkos and Mangu LGAs and Benue’s Guma and Gwer villages, gunmen launched coordinated assaults on predominantly Christian villages, killing dozens and leaving scores injured. Entire families were wiped out in the dead of night, homes were set ablaze, and places of worship desecrated.

Human rights organisations and local monitors report that at least 500 people have been killed across both states since the beginning of the year. Over 300,000 remain internally displaced, many of them living in substandard camps without access to basic healthcare, education, or protection.

Community leaders, religious bodies, and international observers have consistently characterised the killings as targeted attacks on Christian communities. “This is not just a land conflict. This is ethnic and religious cleansing by stealth,” said Rev. Gideon Para-Mallam, a prominent peace advocate based in Jos.

He’s not alone. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and several Christian leaders across the region have condemned what they describe as the government’s failure to protect its citizens and its silence in the face of targeted violence. “Our people are being wiped out, and the world is silent,” one Benue-based priest said during a memorial mass in February. “How many more must die before this is seen for what it is?”

Several attacks go unreported in national media, often reduced to statistics or generic headlines like “Clashes Between Farmers and Herders,” which many local communities feel whitewashes the religious and ethnic dimensions of the crisis.

Since January, human rights monitors report that over 500 people have been killed across Plateau and Benue. More than 300,000 remain displaced, many living in squalid camps without healthcare, education, or protection.

A Security Apparatus in Question

The Nigerian government has repeatedly pledged to address the insecurity, yet meaningful change remains elusive. Military operations in the region have yielded few results, and there are widespread accusations of collusion and negligence on the part of security forces.

In Plateau State, locals allege that despite repeated calls for help, security operatives often arrive hours after an attack—if they come at all. “We saw the soldiers at the checkpoint. We told them what was happening. They said they had no orders,” recounted a survivor of the January Mangu massacre.

Benue State’s governor, Hyacinth Alia, has condemned the attacks and appealed to the federal government for support, but even his calls have grown increasingly desperate. “We are under siege. We are mourning every week. Our people are tired, and their faith in government is waning,” he said during a press conference in Makurdi last month.

Beyond the staggering death toll, the psychological and social costs are immense. Children are growing up in displacement camps, traumatised by violence. Communities are fracturing under the strain of continuous attacks and displacement. Churches that once served as sanctuaries have become makeshift morgues.

Entire generations are being traumatised and denied the chance at a normal life. Farming communities, once the backbone of local economies, are abandoning their land out of fear. Hunger and malnutrition are rising, with the UN warning that the ongoing violence could worsen food insecurity across Nigeria.

The Path Forward – Accountability and Justice

In a recent report, Amnesty International condemned the Nigerian government for failing to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the attacks. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has also renewed calls to designate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” due to religiously motivated violence.

But human rights experts say what’s needed most is political will at home. “There can be no peace without justice. Nigeria must move beyond rhetoric and begin to hold perpetrators accountable,” said Dr. Fatima Akilu, a psychologist and conflict expert. “Until communities see justice, the cycle of violence will continue.”

Ending the crisis in Plateau and Benue requires more than military force—it demands a multi-pronged approach that addresses the root causes of the violence: land disputes, religious intolerance, weak governance, and impunity. Reconciliation initiatives, while important, must be accompanied by firm action against perpetrators and meaningful support for victims.

The federal government must also reform its security architecture to ensure that response times are swift and impartial. Early warning systems, better surveillance, and community policing could save lives. Moreover, media and civil society must play a role in amplifying the voices of victims and shifting the narrative. “We cannot normalise this violence,” said journalist Solomon Elisha, who has covered the Middle Belt crisis for over a decade. “Silence and euphemisms help the killers.”

How many more must die in the Middle Belt before Nigeria—and the world—truly responds? This crisis is not just a northern Nigerian problem; it is a national tragedy and a moral stain. For every village burned, every place of worship desecrated, and every child orphaned, the country inches further from the ideals of unity and peace.

By Suyi Ayodele

Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise”, Proverbs 6:6.

The business colossus and owner of Globacom, the nation’s giant telecommunication outfit, Dr. Mike Adenuga Jnr (GCON), is 72 years old today.

In celebrating the giant man of means on his birthday, I have decided to use the ‘thesis’ written about him 12 years ago as a link between the character of the man the entire world has been celebrating in the last two weeks and the characters of the locusts God, in His infinite wisdom, sent to oversee our affairs as a nation.

The ‘thesis’ was written by no other person than the maverick retired General and Military President, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB), when Dr. Adenuga turned 60 on April 29, 2013. We shall come to that presently.

The essence of this piece goes beyond celebrating Dr. Adenuga. His life, his character and his attitudes as espoused in the IBB’s thesis of 2013 are referenced here to draw the attention of our ‘ruiners’ and rulers alike to the fact that what is lacking in our polity is character. And not just character, but good character.

The last one week has been very instructive in the history of Nigeria as our politicians set the agenda for the 2027 general elections. Nigeria, we all know by now, is a cruise. We elected, or we were told that we elected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a term of four years, with a proviso for renewal after the first four years. Unfortunately for us, and to the damnation of good governance, President Tinubu had hardly taken the oath of office on May 29, 2023, when the race for his second term began.

Thus, the President and his acolytes have spent the last 23 months plotting and ‘strategising’ for the second term ambition. This is one of the reasons why the government has not been able to address any of the litanies of problems confronting us as a people. Rather, President Tinubu, who in recent times has turned out to be a ‘visiting president’ with France as his preferred base, has engaged in all manners of arm-twisting to get everybody on board of his rudderless ship as he ‘consolidates’ his hold on the political landscape.

With the recent gale of defections that hit the half-dead opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last week, it is crystal clear, even to the blind that the nation is on its path to a one-party State.

The beauty of the defections of the opposition key figures to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), is the fact that when the looming calamity of a one-party State in the hands of Tinubu hits, no one will be spared; not the defectors nor the one-leg-in-one-leg-out PDP leaders, like the one who boasted that he would remain in the PDP but work for its downfall from within. Sadder enough, not those APC men and women who today are hailing President Tinubu as the “master strategist”, would escape the ruination!

A few hours after Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State defected to the APC last week with the entire PDP structures in the state, I got a call from an elderly fellow, who was worried about the character of our political leaders. The old fella expressed disgust that former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, who was also the vice-presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 presidential election, could defect to the APC. He asked: “What is Okowa looking for again?” My interlocutor was equally disturbed that the political class was inadvertently making a dictator of President Tinubu. He asked again: “What is wrong with our politicians?”

While I did not answer the old man’s queries on Okowa or other issues he raised, I nevertheless have no doubt in my mind about what the problems are with our politicians. Someone, long ago told me that “betrayal is the bedrock of our politics.” He could be right, and he could also be wrong.

But I think that the major flaw is in the character of the political class. Beyond the issue of lack of clear-cut ideological orientation, the major fallacy of the show of shame going on in the name of everyone trying to get on board the ship of the ruling party is pure character deficiency.

While one also has no doubts that the present administration, in its desperate bid to retain power in 2027, would spare nothing, including harassing the opposition to buckle, IBB illustrates what makes a good man in his ‘thesis’ to Dr. Adenuga Jr. at his 60th birthday anniversary in 2013.

Dr. Mike Adenuga Jr. (GCON), I daresay, is a book, a voluminous book and a reader’s delight. He should be studied; he should be read. Our politicians need a lot to learn from the personality of the man many of his associates call the Great Guru (GG) or Mr. Chairman.

It is worthy of note that whatever Mr. Chairman has achieved today, and will also add as he ages, was not dropped on his laps like meteors discharged from the cosmic forces. No! Dr. Adenuga’s character, especially the ethos of an Omoluabi, the Yoruba measurement of good character and upbringing, played vital roles in projecting the business icon to this enviable height.

The first of that Omoluabi ethos is Adenuga’s fidelity to friendship. The man who holds the title of Apesin of Ijebuland has demonstrated that in many ways. But the one that comes easily to mind is his encounter with the monstrous government of retired General Olusegun Obasanjo in late 2005.

For whatever reason, Obasanjo, who then harboured an undisclosed animosity against IBB and was engaged in a battle of trust with his then Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, decided to vent his anger on the common friend of the duo, Adenuga.

When the Ijebu man would not play ball, Obasanjo decided to go after him with the government’s attack dog, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Adenuga’s home then at the highbrow Oko Awo Close, Victoria Island, Lagos, was violated by EFCC operatives. The man remained undeterred. He held on to his known dictum of owning Globacom ‘bullet, powder and barrel’.

When the harassment was becoming unbearable, rather than betray his friends, Adenuga decided to discomfort himself. While Obasanjo was assembling another ‘army of invasion’ in Aso Rock Villa to ship Mr. Chairman to detention, the man decided to surprise everyone. Abandoning the comfort of his home and the growth of his business concerns, Adenuga shipped out of the country on self-exile. He first landed in Accra, Ghana, and then later to Paris, France. For good 18 months, Adenuga remained in exile and did not return to Nigeria until Obasanjo completed his second term and a new President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, took over.

Eighteen months of absence of the ownership in the life of a business like we have in the Mike Adenuga Group means a lot. Anything could have happened. And a lot indeed happened while the man was away. On his return, and in one of the meetings with his top aides, Dr. Adenuga acknowledged that a lot had taken place in his business. Thus, in his reaction to one of the issues that arose, he intoned: “My absence for 18 months has corrupted all of you. Now that I am back, all that nonsense will stop!” (The Guru’s Memorable Quotes, 2nd Edition- an in-house cartoon-led magazine).

Capturing that singular incident, IBB, in his 2013 tribute to Adenuga at his Diamond birthday celebration wrote: “Mike, truly you epitomize hard-work, perseverance, doggedness, humility, diligence and patriotism. The fact that you treasure the virtue of true friendship and loyalty to any cause you believe in, gives you the cutting edge. I am eternally grateful for all the troubles you had to go through because of me in the hands of a regime that tried to derail our friendship and relationship.”

The smiling General also added these lines: “Even when you came under severe pressure by that same regime which I helped to nurture, to blackmail me in order to hang me, you remained eternally loyal and steadfast. Only a businessman of character, sound upbringing and virtue could choose friendship instead of his economic empire. Only a man of dependable poise, with an open mind and fear of God, would choose to sustain an age-long friendship instead of sacrificing the same on the altar of avarice, greed and economic interest.”

What are the lessons for the Hallelujah orchestra echoing the Tinubu-threatened-us-with-EFCC slogan to justify the mass defections of PDP and other political parties’ members to the APC in droves?

One, Adenuga could have succumbed and played along with his kinsman, Obasanjo, an Egba man. The Ijebu business icon could have placed premium on the economic gains that the enormous government patronage would have accrued to him by betraying IBB or Atiku. But he chose to be noble. He chose to stay committed to friendship and good conscience.

Rather than betray his friends, he decided to suffer the ignominy of an exile for committing no crime. He abandoned his fame, his wealth, his comfort and family and left Nigeria. He literally swallowed fire so that his friends could drink water!

Beyond that, he risked the government coming after his businesses. He was not ignorant of what the Nigerian Government did to the late Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola’s business concerns. Adenuga never lost sight of the fact that such a fate could also befall him. But he allowed his character to come into play.

He realised that there would be a tomorrow. He opted for self-discomfort. Today, the entire world is celebrating him for who he is and what he stands for. His character delineation is loyalty! He did not shift base; he did not jump ship.

This is what the Nigerian political class which has copiously proven to be lacking in grit and mettle ought to learn. This is why it is possible for a man who contested to be vice-president in an election his party scored over six million votes, to jump ship at the slightest appearance of EFCC uniform by his gate! Ever wonder why our politics has not gone beyond this level of bread-and-akara dinner? Check the characters of those we call leaders, people without scruple!

Further in his 2013 ‘thesis on Adenuga, former President Babangida posited again: “Such tribulations are prices we have to pay for true friendship. Your ability to remain focused in the face of pressure coupled with your capacity to identify and nurture talents is the reason why you are MIKE ADENUGA. There can never be another MIKE ADENUGA of your orientation.”

This is another chapter of Adenuga, the Book, which the Nigerian political elite must read. Even those among them who claim to be offspring of the legend, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, are not better off. They, like the Avatar, Awolowo, once said, “Are like a bird of passage that lacks the quality of permanence”, as they keep jumping from one political party to the other! One politician once told me that “the hunger of four years is not a small matter!” Really! So, if we all belong to one political party, who will call out the government for not doing the right thing?

IBB said of Adenuga: “…your capacity to identify and nurture talents is the reason why you are MIKE ADENUGA. There can never be another MIKE ADENUGA of your orientation.” How true is this assertion? Yes, it is true that it is only God that is incomparable. When we take the discussion down to our situation and the improvements that individuals have brought to play in Nigeria, Dr. Mike Adenuga stands out! Will there be another Mike Adenuga Jr.? No doubt, not in this generation!

Mr. Chairman’s tenacity of purpose, “capacity to identify and nurture talents” and his ability to “remain calm, collected and unassuming, with an élan that is symbolic of humility and training, despite many achievements’, especially “when others are losing their heads as a result of unethical conduct and greed”, as penned by IBB 12 years ago, are indeed some of the virtues that stand Dr. Adenuga out in the Nigerian “society whose moral fibre has ebbed considerably.”

And in closing that chapter of the ‘thesis’, IBB, again, expressed gratitude by saying, “I remain grateful for being a true friend indeed.” How I wish that when the time comes and we are to write about these characters dotting our political landscape, we shall be bold to say they are indeed the friends of the people of Nigeria!

In closing this piece and as the world gathers today to celebrate one of the gifts of God to this generation, I wish Dr. Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga (GCON), The Book, The Great Guru, many happy returns at 72!

Agba yin a dale, Sir.

The views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of Law & Society Magazine.