The Benue State Government has rejected allegations by the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, that thugs working for the state government blocked him from accessing Yelewata community in the state on Tuesday.
Obi had said his convoy encountered “thugs” who mounted a roadblock on the Makurdi-Gboko federal highway while he was travelling to Yelewata to console families affected by the 2025 attacks.
But the state government, in a statement issued by the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, denied any involvement in the incident and described Obi’s allegation as unfounded.
The government said the claim was an attempt to drag Governor Hyacinth Alia and the Benue State Government into what it described as a possible internal political matter within the NDC.
“We wish to emphatically deny that the government of Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia has an idea of what Mr. Obi is talking about,” Kula said.
The statement also questioned whether Obi visited Makurdi on Tuesday, citing what it described as his antecedents of making untrue statements against the state.
The government said Obi was not a threat to Governor Alia, adding that even if he posed any security concern, recognised security agencies, rather than thugs, would be responsible for handling such a situation.
It said Governor Alia was committed to peace and the rule of law, insisting that his administration does not “engage, patronize, or deploy thugs as instruments of governance or...
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