On Monday, 2 February 2026, Nigerian prosecutors filed 57 terrorism-related charges against nine men accused of carrying out violent and premeditated attacks on Benue State’s Yelwata community in June 2025.
The nine men were charged at the Federal High Court in Abuja. Charges brought against them detailed how the men held planning meetings, raised funds, acquired weapons, and mobilised fighters across several states ahead of the attack.
On Friday, 13 June, armed men stormed Yelwata, a Christian community in the Guma Local Government Area (LGA), where they set fire to houses and buildings, killing sleeping families and internally displaced people sheltering in Yelwata after fleeing violent attacks on their own communities.
Survivors shared how the attackers killed with machetes or guns. According to Open Doors’ local partners, more than 200 people lost their lives.
Court documents claim ringleader, Ardo Lawal Mohammed Dono, and others met in neighbouring Nasarawa state to raise cash, issue orders, and recruit fighters. Several defendants were accused of supplying AK-47s, aiding the gunmen, or providing safe sites for planning.
The Accused: Nine on Trial
Ardo Lawal Mohammed, Muhammadu Saidu, Alhaji Haruna Abdullahi, Yakubu Adamu, Muhammed Musa, Abubakar Adamu, Shaibu Ibrahim, Saleh Mohammed, and Bako Jibrin, pleaded not guilty to all 57 charges.
Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, told the court that by virtue of Section 273 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, the defendants, by their pleas, had invoked the court’s jurisdiction for trial and applied for an accelerated hearing.
Proceedings have been adjourned until 26 and 27 February 2026, for the commencement of trial.
Hope for Justice
“These charges and investigation should be celebrated,” says John Samuel*, Open Doors’ legal expert in Sub-Saharan Africa. “Calling for accountability and an end to impunity has been a longstanding call to action for us and for the victims of the violence in Nigeria. We welcome the Nigerian government’s action to open investigation, and we urge the authorities to make this a lasting precedent to curb violence and widespread impunity.”
Samuel adds, “The Yelwata massacre is one of the deadliest attacks in the North central Region and is not an isolated incident. Details of the charges make clear that these killings were coordinated and premeditated, not sporadic community clashes.”
*Names changed for security purposes
Pray for Nigeria
- Ask God for a fair and just trial that will be marked by integrity.
- Thank God that He has brought deep things of darkness into light. Pray that truth will prevail.
- Pray for an end to impunity and that the Nigerian government will do everything in its power to hold perpetrators accountable.
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