The presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2027 election, Peter Obi, has condemned the reported attack on his convoy in Benue State, describing the incident as “ridiculous” and “very worrisome” while calling on security agencies to intervene.
Obi spoke on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, after his convoy was reportedly blocked by suspected thugs along the Boko Road while he was attempting to leave Makurdi for communities affected by recent killings in the state.
The former Anambra governor said he had travelled to Benue to commiserate with families affected by the violence and show solidarity with communities that had lost loved ones.
“Well, it’s a ridiculous and very, very worrisome experience this morning. We arrived Benue, Makurdi, this morning at 9 a.m. on our way to the affected community to condole and show solidarity to the families affected by killing,” Obi said.
He said more than 270 people had reportedly been killed in the affected community, adding that his decision to visit was part of his resolve to travel across the country and engage directly with Nigerians as the 2027 campaign season begins.
“Only to arrive Makurdi this morning, I’m trying to drive out, I was blocked by teeming thugs, shouting, and I was wondering, are we still in Nigeria or am I in another country?” he said.
Obi said he deliberately avoided confronting the mob despite having supporters who could have responded, stressing that escalating the situation could endanger lives and create further confusion.
“I’m not wanting to be, not because I don’t want to be able to say we must go on as we have our own teeming crowd, but not wanting to distort and cause confusion and possibly endanger lives of other people, I decided to remain as civil as possible,” he said.
The NDC candidate subsequently appealed to the Inspector-General of Police, the Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies to intervene and ensure that political actors do not use violence to restrict the movement of opposition candidates.
“I’m using this occasion to appeal to the security agencies, the IG of Police, the Director of DSS and other agencies to please intervene and be able to call various state governors to order,” Obi said.
“I was a governor myself, this rascality cannot be allowed.”
He warned that Nigerians could resort to self-help if the government failed to provide adequate security, describing such a development as unacceptable.
“We have a country and we too have voters, we have people who can confront these people on our own if the state and the government can no longer provide us security. We cannot go on this way, it is unacceptable,” he said.
Obi also called for issue-based campaigns ahead of the 2027 elections, saying political parties and candidates should focus on insecurity, kidnapping, hunger, killings and poverty rather than violence and intimidation.
He said his participation in a programme on Monday, including the commissioning of the presidential campaign office of the APM party, reinforced his call for political unity, love and justice.
“I appealed that we need unity, love, justice and let this campaign be concentrated on ideas, issues that concern Nigerians today of insecurity, kidnapping, hunger, killing and everything, how we are going to pull our people out of poverty, that’s what it should be,” he said.
Obi stressed that he was not in Benue to contest the governorship election, but as a presidential candidate seeking to visit communities across Nigeria and understand the challenges confronting citizens.
“I’m not here to contest election for office of the governor of Benue State,” he said.
“I’ve told you as a presidential candidate that I want to visit every community, visit across Nigeria, which is what I’m urging other presidential candidates to do—go around Nigeria so you can feel the people, see their faces, ask them questions and they ask you questions about what you want to do for them to be able to ameliorate the suffering Nigerians are going through today.”
The former governor said continuing with political violence would only deepen Nigeria’s problems, insisting that the country was too decent to descend into anarchy.
“To continue is to create, to add, to behave in the same rascality which the government is behaving, and I’ve chosen that we cannot live in a rascally society,” Obi said.
“Nigeria is too decent to be involved in that.”
He appealed to the Federal Government, security agencies and state governments to prevent further incidents, while also warning youths against allowing themselves to be used for political violence.
Obi said youths being mobilised for such actions were ultimately jeopardising their own future.
“People are using you, they’re not using their children, they’re not using their relations, they’re using you to stop opportunity of building a better life for you,” he said.
He said his political ambition was centred on creating a country where citizens could live with dignity and have access to basic necessities.
“All I want is to have a Nigeria where a child of nobody can be somebody without knowing anybody, where no Nigerian can go to bed without having food on his stomach, without knowing where the next meal will come from,” Obi said.
Turning to Benue’s agricultural potential, he said the state had the capacity to contribute significantly to Nigeria’s food security if its people were provided with security and viable means of livelihood.
“Look at Benue, Benue can feed Nigeria. It has a hinterland where you can farm yam and everything. Today it’s become a place where thugs thrive because they have no means of livelihood and that’s what we want to change,” he said.
Obi maintained that the 2027 contest should be fought through ideas and policy proposals rather than confrontation.
“We are not coming here fighting anybody. Elections will be run on ideas, on issues and I urge people to please let’s concentrate on that. Let’s not allow our country to turn into anarchy,” he said.
“Anarchy consumes everybody.”
The NDC candidate further alleged that the reported incident could not have occurred without the knowledge or involvement of government and security authorities, drawing on his experience as a former governor.
“I’m sure both the government, the youth were actually led by—essay on youth, as I was informed—and I’m sure I’ve been governor myself. I know that this cannot happen without the government and security agencies,” he said.
“This is not fully aware that I’m here. I’ve been governor for eight years and I know the system very well and this cannot happen while I was there. Even when it happens, I will intervene.”
Obi also rejected any suggestion that his presence in Benue constituted interference in the state’s electoral process, noting that the country was already in the campaign period for the 2027 elections.
“This is a campaign period. I did not come here on election day so you come and say I’m disturbing the election. I did not come here when there was no campaign,” he said.
He recalled that he had previously turned back after the Benue State governor reportedly said he did not want to see him, but maintained that the circumstances were different now that political campaigns had commenced.
“Remember last time I wanted to come, the governor said he doesn’t want to see me. I turned back but now is the election period where, as a presidential candidate, I’m free to move around because I flagged off the elections,” Obi said.
He urged other presidential candidates to travel across the country, interact with citizens and witness firsthand the conditions in which Nigerians live.
“What they would have been doing is urging other presidential candidates to come and see things for themselves,” he said.
“I’m in Benue to see things for myself.”
