The Nigerian government has formally arraigned nine suspects of the Yelwata massacre, where about 200 people were killed in Benue State in June 2025.
The Nigerian government arraigned the nine suspects before the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday.
At the beginning of court proceedings on Monday, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Mr Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, who led the Federal Government’s team of lawyers to court, told Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court that a 57-amended count had been filed against the defendants.
Fagbemi informed the court that though 10 defendants were earlier listed in the amended charge, he sought the order of the court striking out the name of the 6th defendant, Yakubu Mamman.
And the defence lawyers, including Ibrahim Angulu, SAN; A. I. Kaura and Adamu Abdullahi, did not oppose AGF’s application, and Mamman’s name was struck out from the charge.
Fagbemi also applied that the initial charge dated Sept. 9, 2025, but filed Sept. 10, 2025, where eight defendants were listed, be substituted for the amended charge dated Jan. 19, but filed Jan. 20, marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/471/2025.
After the defence did not object to the application, the judge struck out the earlier charge.
The AGF then applied that the 57 counts be read to the defendants to take their plea.
In count one of the charge, the defendants were accused of knowingly participating in meetings between May and June 2025 in Nasarawa State to plan an attack on the Yelwata community in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.
“That you… sometime between May and June 2025, in Nasarawa State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, knowingly and directly participated in meetings in connection with the commission of an act of terrorism, to wit: to plan an attack on Yelwata community in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, the attack which was subsequently carried out on the 13th day of June, 2025 and resulted in the burning of houses, grievous bodily harm and the death of approximately 150 persons. You thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 12(a) of the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act (2022) and punishable under the same section.”
The defendants pleaded not guilty to all 57 counts.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that the suspected terrorists were alleged to have attacked on June 13, 2025, where many houses were burnt down and about 200 people were massacred, while others sustained various degrees of injuries.
The nine suspects include Ardo Lawal Mohammed, Muhammadu Saidu, Alhaji Haruna Abdullahi, Yakubu Adamu, Muhammed Musa, Abubakar Adamu, Shaibu Ibrahim, Saleh Mohammed, and Bako Jibrin.
Earlier, the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice assured Nigerians that justice would be served in the matter, sending a strong signal to enemies of the country acting under any disguise.
“The administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is committed to the protection of the lives and properties of all as enshrined in the constitution,” the statement by Kamarudeen Ogundele, the SA to the AGF and Minister of Justice, read.
He said this came after a “painstaking investigation and collaboration by government agencies.
Recall also that the Yelwata massacre was discussed during a hearing at the United States Congress over the designation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
A survivor of the Yelwata attack, Msurshima Apeh, told the United States Congress, how she watched the killing of her five children during the onslaught.
“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 told the House Subcommittee on Africa, which examined U.S President Donald Trump’s decision to return Nigeria to the Country of Particular Concern (CPC) list in November 2026.
