Yelwata Attack: How I Watched killing Of My 5 Children — Victim Tells US Congress
THECONSCIENCE NG reports that a survivor of the Yelwata attack in Benue State, Msurshima Apeh, has recounted before the United States Congress how she watched armed men kill her five children during the assault on her community.
Apeh gave her testimony on Thursday before the House Subcommittee on Africa, which reviewed United States President Donald Trump’s decision to return Nigeria to the Country of Particular Concern (CPC) list.
In a now-viral video, she described how armed men invaded the camp where hundreds of displaced families were sleeping.
“When we went to sleep that night around 9 pm, the Fulani terrorists attacked us where we were sleeping. We were locked inside the camp, Yelwata, and they were butchering them with cutlasses and shooting guns as well.
“When the torture had finished at some point in time, they poured petrol on the building and the majority of them were set ablaze,” she said virtually from her base in Benue State.
Apeh said she escaped by climbing a tree while her children cried below.
“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 recounted.
She explained that she later fled into the bush and was found by rescue workers.
“I ran out into the bush at some point, and those who came for rescue will now bring me out of that place at some point, and I was able to witness the whole drama. When the people came, we were now relocated to a new camp,” she said.
The Yelwata attack, which occurred in June 2025 in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State, left an estimated 100 to 200 people dead and displaced more than 3,000 others. Many survivors were later moved to camps in Nasarawa State.
Apeh’s testimony came weeks after Trump, in a post on his Truth Social account a few weeks ago, instructed the U.S. War Department to prepare for a possible strike in Nigeria.
He accused the Nigerian government of turning a blind eye to what he described as the killings of Christians across the country.
Trump warned that the United States would immediately halt all aid and assistance to Nigeria if the attacks on Christians continue.
He also indicated that America might intervene militarily to eliminate what he called “Islamic terrorists” responsible for the killings.
“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump wrote.
He further stated, “I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!”
