Declare a state Emergency in Benue state…….. Senior Lawyer begs Tinubu
Worried by the unabating insecurity in Benue state, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Professor Sabastine Hon has pleaded with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to declare a state Emergency to save lives in the state .
The Senior Lawyer in a petition to President Tinubu catalogued thousands of lives and properties already lost to insecurity and submitted the state of emergency has become inevitable.
He alleged that the state governor is bereft of ideas while the security operatives collude with bandits and murderers .
He therefore demanded the immediate withdrawal of all the security operatives in Benue and replace them with others .
He claimed that while the situation has come under control in Zamfara, Sokoto, Kano and Kaduna , the situation is deteriorating in Benue .
According to Hon , “the fact that the Benue State Governor,Hyacinth Alia, keeps labelling the massive killings going on in Benue State as mere ‘skirmishes”and therefore justifying his unwillingness to address the matter is embarrassing”
He added : “the fact that the military commanders in Benue State seem to have all taken sides with the murderers is also curious .Too many examples abound;but”.
He listed the massacre in Jagan Community in the North Bank area of Makurdi Metropolis on May 29, 2025 in broad daylight by the terrorists.
Hon regretted that “Even though there is a military barracks in the same North Bank and soldiers were deployed to arrest the situation, everything was left to chance “.
He added that on May 24, 2025, Rev, Fr. Solomon Atongo was attacked on his way from Makurdi to Naka,the Headquarters of Gwer-East .
“The scene was just about 500 meters from a military checkpoint, but none of the soldiers at the checkpoint came to his rescue until the attackers left him for dead. He is lucky to be alive today.”
There are several online allegations of the complicity of the military in the attacks. Only on May 31, 2025, Catholic Priests directly accused the military of complicity and further informed the whole world how the Church has lost priests and laity and has closed over 15 parishes in Benue State , Hon stated.
