Apostle Johnson Suleman, General Overseer of Omega Fire Ministries International, has called on President Bola Tinubu to allow Nigerians—especially the people of Benue State—to defend themselves if the government can no longer provide security.
Reacting to the weekend massacre in Yelewata and Dauda communities of Guma Local Government Area in Benue State, where suspected armed herdsmen reportedly killed about 200 people—including women, children, internally displaced persons, and five security operatives—Suleman issued a strongly worded statement on social media.
“People of Benue, defend yourself,” he declared on Monday via X.
The outspoken cleric urged President Tinubu to acknowledge the failure of the current security architecture and admit that the federal government may be overwhelmed.
“If the federal govt knows it’s overwhelmed or its security architecture has failed, they should be humble enough to tell the citizens. Self-defence is enshrined in the Constitution,” he said. “I said it when I went to Jos and Benue. We can’t watch this continue.”
Condemning the bloodshed in Benue as “evil, barbaric and mayhem,” Suleman insisted that the people must take steps to protect themselves from further attacks.
He also slammed politicians for focusing on future elections instead of confronting the violence head-on.
“It’s ridiculous that people are thinking of 2027 whilst mayhem is being unleashed in 2025 on citizens they are supposed to govern. What happened to your humanity? There was a country,” he stated.
Meanwhile, President Tinubu, in a post on X the same day, attributed the tragedy to “inflammatory utterances” by political and community leaders in Benue—an assertion that has stirred further public outcry.
