In a statement released on 13 June 2025 in the Federal Capital Territory, the group said while the nation paused to reflect on its democratic journey, people in the Middle Belt were burying citizens murdered on or before the eve of Democracy Day.

The Middle Belt Concern, a civic group, has accused President Bola Tinubu of ignoring the killings and mass burials that marked this year’s Democracy Day, insisting the day was not one of celebration, but of sorrow and mourning across their region.

In a statement released on 13 June 2025 in the Federal Capital Territory, the group said while the nation paused to reflect on its democratic journey, people in the Middle Belt were burying citizens murdered on or before the eve of Democracy Day.

They stated that since 2009, communities across and neighbouring the Middle Belt — including Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Taraba, and parts of Adamawa, Kaduna, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, and Niger States — have faced sustained and systematic attacks.

“The federal and state governments across multiple administrations have failed us. Security votes are spent, committees are formed, and press statements issued, yet the killings continue.”

“The notion that foreign criminals have crossed into central Nigeria and are operating freely without interception by our military or intelligence services is not just alarming, it is damning. It calls into serious question the competence, and indeed the intentions, of those entrusted with our national security.”

“President Bola Tinubu, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, must act decisively and immediately to protect the lives and lands of Middle Belt communities. Speeches and condolences are no longer enough. 

“We have noted with dismay that President Tinubu has not seen fit to honour the dead in the Middle Belt in his various addresses at this period and has carried on as if he did not swear an oath to ensure that the security of Nigerians, including those in the Middle Belt, would be his primary duty as the President of the Federal Republic Nigeria.”

“The National Security Adviser and the heads of Nigeria's security agencies must be relieved of their duties and thoroughly investigated for gross dereliction of duty and possible complicity in the ongoing violence.

“We also call for previous National Security Advisers and heads of security agencies from 2009 to be investigated and duly prosecuted where found culpable.”

“We call for a special independent commission of inquiry into the killings, land grabs, and displacement occurring in the Middle Belt, with a mandate to deliver justice and restitution.”

“We urge our state governors, Governors Hyacinth Alia, Abdullahi Sule, Caleb Muftwang, Ahmed Usman Ododo, Agbu Kefas, Mohammed Bago, Ahmadu Finitri and indeed all state governors in Nigeria to stop playing 2027 political games and return to the work of governance, which begins with ensuring the safety and well-being of their cirizens. 

You swore an oath before God and man honour it. If the Middle Belt falls to terrorists, Nigeria as we know it, will be made uninhabitable for all others by the same terrorists.”

“The lives of our people are not collateral damage for political ambitions. Democracy without justice, security, and equality is an empty shell. For the Middle Belt, democracy cannot be measured by elections, but by the right to exist in our ancestral lands without fear.”

“We remember the dead. We stand with the displaced. And we vow we will not be silent.”