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The Benue State Government has denied knowledge of Peter Obi’s reported visit to Yelewata, Guma Local Government Area, where more than 200 people were reportedly killed in a recent attack.
The denial followed reports that youths allegedly blocked the convoy of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate while he attempted to access the community on Tuesday.
The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Hyacinth Alia, Kula Tersoo, told Vanguard that neither the governor nor the state government was informed of Obi’s visit and that no security arrangements were made ahead of his reported movement.
Tersoo said a visit by a presidential candidate should ordinarily be communicated to the relevant security agencies to allow adequate protection to be provided.
“Peter Obi is a presidential candidate of a political party and a former two-term governor. He is not a small man in this country. He is supposed to be prepared for and given adequate security,” he said.
According to him, the state’s security apparatus, including the police, Department of State Services and civil defence authorities, should have been notified ahead of the visit.
He questioned how Obi’s convoy could have been stopped by youths if security agencies had been properly informed and adequate protection provided.
“For the youths to have stopped him, it means there was no adequate security, that is, if at all he came. There is something wrong somewhere,” Tersoo said.
The governor’s spokesman also rejected suggestions that Alia could have sponsored youths to prevent Obi from entering the state, saying the governor did not promote political thuggery.
“Governor Alia does not promote thuggery in Benue State. If Obi is a threat to him, or maybe he felt that Obi’s coming would cause a problem for him, the right thing to do is to get legitimate security operatives to do the needful and not to gather youths or send them to go and block him,” he said.
Tersoo added that the governor had not received any briefing from security agencies about Obi’s reported visit, raising questions over whether the presidential candidate had actually entered the state as reported.
He also recalled an earlier claim by Obi that he was prevented from visiting Benue and that shootings occurred when he eventually arrived. Tersoo said the state government had sought security reports to establish what happened during that incident, adding that the same concerns had arisen over Tuesday’s reported episode.
