Creation of Benue State

Benue State was carved out of the former Benue-Plateau State on 3 February 1976, one of seven new states created by General Murtala Muhammed's military government, giving the Tiv-majority Benue Province its own state.

Benue State was created on 3 February 1976 when General Murtala Muhammed's military government split the federation from twelve to nineteen states, dividing Benue-Plateau State into separate Benue and Plateau States. The new state took its name from the Benue River, whose name derives from the Tiv phrase 'Ber-nor' (river/lake of the hippopotamus).

Gave the Tiv, as the state's largest ethnic group, their own state-level government for the first time, a long-standing goal of Tiv/Middle Belt political agitation dating back to the UMBC era.