Thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Yelewata, Guma LGA, demonstrated less than twenty-four hours after First Lady Oluremi Tinubu contributed ₦1 billion during a condolence visit to Benue State, seeking prompt access to the money. They protested starvation, substandard living conditions, and constant herdsman attacks by blocking the Benue-Nasarawa highway.
The protest was intended to raise awareness of the extreme hunger and cruel treatment they have endured at the camp, according to those chanting and holding placards with statements like, “We want to go back home,” “We are hungry,” “Our women are losing their babies and pregnancies,” and “Our people are being killed,” among other things.
The state administration, however, rejected the demonstration as being driven by politics. Solomon Iorpev, Governor Alia’s media assistant, stated that the governor was dedicated to IDP welfare and pointed out that the gift had not yet been processed.
“If not so, the wife of President Tinubu, Senator Oluremi just gave the cheque on Tuesday which is yet to be cleared and cashed for the purpose it was meant. Today, IDPs have blocked the Makurdi-Lafia-Abuja Highway demanding for the money.” he claimed.
Tema Ager, a spokesman for SEMA, refuted claims of malnutrition or mistreatment, saying that food was being provided and that political interference and a misinterpretation of the donation’s intent—resettlement, not cash handouts; were the causes of the protest.
“The the protest was politically motivated. The IDPs are not being starved, the government is providing food for them.” he explained. “Those IDPs in Yelwata usually abandon their camp and move to the camp in the international market in Makurdi because it’s a recent camp and people have been trooping in there to provide them with food.
“Even when we take food to them in Yelwata, they still come back to the international market to collect another one.
“The major issue that triggered this protest is politics. Simply because the first lady visited yesterday and announced that she donated N1 billion. You know the process of getting this money, sometimes they just announce it. It’s when they go back that they process it.
“What she announced yesterday cannot happen today, more so, the money is for resettlements not for food. Some of them are protesting that they were given money before and we have not shared it with them. That money is not meant to be shared to them.
