Nigerian music icon Innocent “2Baba” Idibia has issued a heartfelt plea for urgent intervention following a horrific attack in Yelwata, Benue State, that left over 200 people dead, many of them internally displaced persons.
In a deeply emotional video shared on Sunday, June 15, 2025, the Benue-born singer, visibly shaken and struggling to contain his anguish, described the massacre as “a national emergency.”
Standing beside his wife and Edo State lawmaker, Natasha Osawaru, 2Baba called on both state and federal authorities to go beyond words and take immediate, concrete action.
“Condemnation is no longer enough,” he said. “The lives lost can’t be brought back, but something must be done — now — to stop this madness. I’m speaking as a son of the soil, as a Nigerian, as a human being.”
2Baba, who recently took up an advisory role as technical adviser to the Benue State government, has been vocal about the worsening security crisis in his home state, particularly the persistent attacks linked to armed herders and communal conflicts.
The June 13 attack on Yelwata, located in Guma Local Government Area, has been described as one of the deadliest in recent years, with entire families wiped out and temporary IDP camps decimated. The assailants reportedly launched the assault late Friday night, catching residents off guard.
In a separate statement, Pope Leo XIV also condemned the killings, calling it a “horrifying slaughter of innocent lives” and urging the international community to pay closer attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Nigeria’s Middle Belt.
Online, 2Baba’s tearful message has gone viral, igniting renewed public discourse on insecurity, displacement, and governance. Social media has been flooded with messages of support for the singer and grief for the victims, as citizens and celebrities alike echo his call for justice and systemic reform.
The tragedy in Yelwata is the latest in a string of attacks that have turned large swaths of Benue State into conflict zones, displacing thousands and stretching the limits of humanitarian aid.
As the death toll continues to rise and survivors seek shelter and answers, 2Baba’s voice, raw, resolute, and resonant, has become a rallying cry for change in a country where too many tragedies have gone unanswered.
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