The escalating security crisis in Benue State, driven by persistent herder-farmer conflicts and banditry, has claimed 1,500 lives and displaced 700,000 people in 2025, prompting intense pressure on President Bola Tinubu to declare a state of emergency.
On June 4, 2025, a coalition of Catholic Bishops, led by Bishop Wilfred Anagbe of Makurdi, issued a public appeal during a press conference in Makurdi, urging Tinubu to impose emergency rule to address the violence, which has concentrated 80% of its impact in Logo, Gwer West, and Katsina-Ala local government areas, with 50 farmers killed in May alone. The bishops, representing 2 million Catholics in Benue, criticized the state government’s inability to contain 90% of militia activities, despite Governor Hyacinth Alia’s deployment of 5,000 Benue State Civil Protection Guards (BSCPG) and 600 motorcycles to enhance local security.
In contrast, Professor Leonard Shilgba, a prominent APC figure, published an open letter to Tinubu on June 3, arguing against emergency rule, describing it as a short-term measure that could undermine Alia’s administration, which enjoys 70% public support according to 2024 surveys. Shilgba highlighted Alia’s $50 million investment in security, including digital surveillance systems installed in 200 schools and markets, and a five-year plan to resettle 100,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).
He advocated for long-term solutions like constitutional amendments to enable state police, a proposal backed by 60% of Benue’s 3 million residents. The crisis has inflicted ₦1 billion in agricultural losses, with 500,000 IDPs lacking adequate aid, and 30% of attacks linked to foreign arms smuggling from neighboring countries. Tinubu’s $200 million allocation to Operation Safe Haven in 2025 has increased troop presence by 500, but delays in federal support, affecting 20% of planned deployments, have drawn criticism.
Alia’s 200 peace negotiations since 2023 have achieved only 10% success, and the 500 missing persons reported in 2024 underscore the crisis’s severity, with 40% of stakeholders warning that emergency rule could militarize governance, as observed in Rivers State’s 2025 emergency declaration.