A survivor of the June 2025 Yelwata massacre in Benue State, Msurshima Apeh, has relived the traumatic events before the United States Congress, describing how terrorists murdered her five children in her presence.

Apeh appeared virtually on Thursday before the House Subcommittee on Africa during a session reviewing President Donald Trump’s decision to return Nigeria to the Country of Particular Concern list over alleged religious persecution.

She provided a detailed account of the night the attackers struck.

According to her, the assault happened while residents were asleep.

“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 explained.

Apeh said she escaped death by climbing a tree, from where she helplessly witnessed her children being murdered.

“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 added that she eventually ran into the bush for safety and was later rescued and relocated.

“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, was reportedly carried out by suspected armed herdsmen.

Several civilians were killed alongside five security personnel, two soldiers, a police officer, and two others.

Many homes and market stalls were set ablaze, and multiple families were completely wiped out, including one that lost 15 members.

In response, President Bola Tinubu cut short other engagements to visit Benue State, meet with community leaders, and assess the situation directly.

He also visited survivors receiving treatment in hospitals.

Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun condemned the attack as a threat to national sovereignty and promised increased security deployments.

He confirmed the arrest of 26 suspects linked to the killings.

The massacre drew widespread condemnation across the country, prompting renewed calls from political, religious, and civil society groups for justice and more effective security measures to prevent such tragedies.

The United States House Subcommittee on Africa on Thursday held a public hearing in Washington, D.C., to examine President Donald Trump’s recent decision to redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern, a classification that heightens U.S monitoring of alleged religious freedom abuses in the country.

The session, chaired by Representative Chris Smith, began at 5 pm and featured testimony from senior U.S State Department officials as well as Nigerian religious leaders.

Lawmakers reviewed the implications of the CPC status, including the possibility of sanctions against Nigerian officials and limits on some U.S assistance.

During the hearing, Representative John James, a former chair of the Africa Subcommittee and now a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called the designation necessary to confront what he described as a rapidly escalating threat to Christian communities in Nigeria.

“Nigeria is facing one of the worst religious freedom crises on the planet,” James said.

“I have been there. I have seen the worsening situation in what is now the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian.”

James said nearly 17,000 Christians have been killed since 2019, with hundreds more murdered in just the first seven months of the current year.

He stressed that the pattern of killings is neither random nor rare.

“These are not isolated incidents, this is a sustained campaign of religiously motivated violence. Too often, it is ignored or even passively enabled by the Nigerian government.”

He added that extremist groups such as Boko Haram, Fulani militants, and ISIS West Africa continue to launch attacks with little or no meaningful government response.

“The absence of accountability has created an environment of impunity. Christians live every day under the shadow of fear,” James said.

James also raised concerns about the prolonged detention of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, linking it to what he described as institutional decay and selective justice in Nigeria.

“Religious persecution is closely tied to political repression and weakening institutions. Kanu’s detention illustrates this.

In 2022, the Court of Appeal dismissed the charges and ordered his release. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention also called for his freedom. Yet he remains in solitary confinement and had to represent himself in court.”

James noted that despite domestic and international appeals, Kanu was convicted on all charges earlier on Thursday.

In response to a question about whether jihadist groups have infiltrated the Nigerian government, Jonathan Pratt, a Senior Bureau Official at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs, said he did not believe such infiltration had taken place.

James pressed further, citing concerns about the selective enforcement of the rule of law and whether authorities have turned a blind eye to targeted attacks.

When asked about Nigeria’s reaction to the CPC designation, Pratt said the Nigerian government appears to be taking the matter seriously.

“A senior delegation is currently in Washington,” Pratt explained.

“They are meeting with top U.S. officials, and we have already engaged them in Abuja and here regarding an action plan. So far, we have seen positive signs of cooperation.”

U.S Congressman, Johnny Olszewski has voiced serious concerns about what he describes as the Nigerian government’s failure to adequately defend its communities from ongoing insurgent violence.

Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of the Catholic Diocese of Makurdi has issued a grave warning to the United States House Subcommittee on Africa, saying Christianity is on the brink of being extinguished in parts of Northern and Middle Belt Nigeria.

Speaking before U.S. lawmakers, Anagbe said Nigeria is experiencing “one of its bleakest moments” for Christian communities, pointing to persistent killings, mass displacements, and targeted assaults carried out “without consequence.”

According to him, the pattern of violence shows an organised attempt to eliminate Christian populations and erase their cultural and religious heritage.

“Christianity is at risk of disappearing from several areas of the North and Middle Belt within a short time,” the bishop warned.

He stressed that attacks, kidnappings and wanton destruction have escalated, even after the United States under President Donald Trump redesignated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern.

He described that action as a much-needed alert to the world.

Anagbe said millions of displaced individuals remain trapped in camps, unable to return home, threatening community survival, economic stability, and continuity of tradition.

He added that sexual violence against women is being used as a weapon of war, a tactic he said aims to ensure entire Christian bloodlines do not survive.

The bishop recounted recent tragedies, including a deadly May 22 assault on his hometown that claimed the lives of several relatives.

He also spoke of the attack on Father Solomon Atongo on May 24, who was shot and left for dead.

Though the priest survived, he now struggles to walk due to a fractured bone.

He cited violent incidents in Plateau, Benue, Kaduna, and Kogi states, including the June 13 massacre in Yelwata, Benue, where 278 people, including children, were reportedly killed.

“It took prayers from the Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, before the Nigerian government even acknowledged the atrocity,”
he said.

Anagbe criticised the Federal Government for what he described as a refusal to confront the worsening crisis.

He posed a sharp question to U.S. lawmakers:

“Who is killing Muslims in the North? Is there any Christian militia displacing people and occupying land in Nigeria?”

He attributed the deepening crisis to extremist groups, Fulani militants, Boko Haram, and ISWAP, spreading their activities further south, worsening food shortages and contributing to one of Africa’s largest displacement emergencies.

The bishop expressed gratitude to the subcommittee and to President Donald Trump for his stance on religious freedom but maintained that declarations alone are insufficient.

He called for a range of interventions: targeted sanctions, increased humanitarian support for internally displaced persons, passage of the Nigerian Religious Freedom and Accountability Act and pressure on Nigeria to abolish discriminatory and blasphemy laws.

“The Church cannot halt the killings on its own. What we need is coordinated political, military and humanitarian action,”
he emphasised.

Anagbe concluded with a sobering appeal:
“Time is running out for Christian communities. We cannot afford further inaction, it only emboldens extremists.”