Amid mounting insecurity in Benue State, Professor Leonard Karshima Shilgba, a founding member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Benue and former Chairman of the NABTEB Governing Board, has written a strongly worded open letter to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, opposing calls for a state of emergency in the state.
In the letter titled “A Constitutional and Moral Rebuttal to the Call for Emergency Rule in Benue State,” Prof. Shilgba argued that while the security challenges in Benue are serious, they do not meet the constitutional threshold required to justify emergency rule.
Quoting Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), he maintained that “the state government remains operational,” and that there is no evidence of a total breakdown in law and order or governance machinery to warrant such drastic action.
He compared Benue’s situation with past instances like Plateau (2004) and Ekiti (2006), where emergency rule was declared only after a collapse of political and constitutional order. According to him, Benue has not reached that point.
Prof. Shilgba expressed concern about the “politicization of insecurity” and warned that any selective use of emergency powers would damage the federal government’s credibility.
“States like Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Borno, and Nasarawa have experienced similar or worse insecurity, yet there have been no such calls,” he said.
He accused some Benue elites of “weaponizing bloodshed for political gain” and reminded the public that many of those calling for emergency powers today were silent during previous periods of violence under other administrations.
Rather than emergency rule, Prof. Shilgba called for structural and constitutional reforms, including creation of state police and legal backing for local security outfits and establishment of State Security Trust Funds.
He also called for amendments to Sections 214–216 of the Constitution to clarify the roles of governors as “Chief Security Officers” and federal recognition for regional vigilante groups like Amotekun, Ebubeagu, and the CJTF.
He also emphasized the need to address the root causes of violence through dialogue with community leaders and tackling underlying land, ethnic, and economic grievances.
“The disjuncture between responsibility and authority in Nigeria’s security architecture is a constitutional defect. Benue’s tragic security history is a consequence of this defect,” he wrote.
Prof. Shilgba concluded by urging the President to remain pragmatic and reform-focused in his approach to national security.
