Tribal leaders in Nigeria’s Benue State have praised US President Donald Trump for authorising air strikes against armed groups in the country’s North-West, and have called for the operation to be expanded to other violence-hit regions.
The United States conducted an air strike on militant positions in Sokoto State on Christmas Day, targeting Islamic State-linked fighters.
President Donald Trump said the operation was aimed at “terrorist targeting and viciously killing, primarily innocent Christians,” and described the strikes as “powerful and deadly”.
The leaders say similar action is urgently needed in the North-East and North-Central areas, where communities have faced years of deadly attacks blamed on terrorist groups and armed herders.
The chairman of Benue’s tribal leadership council and President-General of the Mzough U Tiv (MUT) worldwide, Chief Iorbee Ihagh, said the strikes were a “welcome development” and could help bring an end to what he described as widespread killings.
Speaking in Makurdi, the Benue State capital, Chief Ihagh said he had written to President Trump to commend him for what he called a bold intervention.
“We are urging that the strikes should be sustained, decisive and extended to the North-East and the North-Central, especially the Middle Belt, where our people have suffered unimaginable attacks,” he said.
Benue State, in Nigeria’s North-Central region, has been among the areas worst affected by recurring armed attacks, including clashes between herders and farming communities and violence attributed to extremist and criminal groups. Incidents such as the killing of civilians and mass displacement in villages like Akpanta and Yelwata have added to a deep humanitarian crisis, forcing thousands into camps and disrupting livelihoods.
Chief Ihagh said the crisis had devastated farming communities and left vast areas of ancestral land abandoned or occupied by armed groups.
“As we speak, there is a huge humanitarian crisis in Benue,” he said. “Entire communities have been attacked, and many people cannot return to their homes or farms.”
He added that his own community, Moon in Kwande Local Government Area, had been overrun by attackers, describing himself as both a leader and a victim of the violence.
Beyond military action, the Benue leaders are also appealing to the US government to provide humanitarian support to help displaced families return home and rebuild their lives.
“We appeal to the American government to go a step further by helping our people regain access to their ancestral lands and return safely to their communities,” Chief Ihagh said.