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From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
The Imo State chapter of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has strongly condemned what it described as the “brazen obstruction and violent intimidation” of its presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Gregory Obi, at the Benue State airport on Monday.
In a statement issued Wednesday and signed by the State Publicity Secretary, Uchechukwu Ayozie, the party said the incident represents “a direct assault on democracy itself.”
According to the Imo NDC, Obi was blocked and harassed “right from the precincts of the Benue State airport” by individuals who barricaded public transit corridors.
State Chairman, Barrister Reginald Uwakwe, described the act as “archaic savagery” and “a confession of moral bankruptcy and electoral panic” rather than a show of political strength.
“This primitive brand of political banditry will not be tolerated in any other state across this federation going forward,” Uwakwe said. “Nigeria belongs to all who breathe its air, not to entrenched political cartels who imagine state boundaries as personal fiefdoms or sovereign checkpoints of repression.”
The party cited Sections 40 and 41 of the 1999 Constitution, on freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of movement, calling them “absolute, sacrosanct, and non-negotiable.”
In a direct appeal to those involved in the blockade, the Imo NDC urged young people to reject what it called “mercenary violence.”
“Why settle for the crumbs of mercenary violence when you are worthy of a seat at the table of national reconstruction?” the statement read. “Those who hand you a few expendable banknotes to obstruct progress do not enroll their own children in street brawls; they fly them overseas on public funds. Desist from being the battering rams of destruction.”
The party declared that the NDC “remains unbowed, unbroken, and fiercely determined to reclaim the dignity of the Nigerian citizen,” adding that “an idea whose time has arrived cannot be turned back at an airport junction.”
The Imo NDC also called on law enforcement agencies to “immediately identify, apprehend, and prosecute the perpetrators and their paymasters behind the Benue incident.”
“We serve a clear notice to all reactionary forces: the era of ruling through terror is dead on arrival,” Ayozie stated.
