Peter Obi, the NDC presidential candidate, left the Boko Road location after the blockade held. Whether his team rescheduled the condolence visit to the affected Benue communities was not confirmed by any named official source at the time of publication.
The convoy was stopped along Boko Road, near the Air Force Base, shortly after arriving in Benue.
A mob wielding sticks blocked the road as Obi’s convoy attempted to proceed toward Yelwata. No official from the Benue State Government had responded to the allegations at the time of this report.
Obi, who was in the state to commiserate with communities affected by recent killings, said his team was stopped from gaining access to the area where he intended to pay a condolence visit. The blockade held his convoy at the scene for an extended period, preventing him from reaching the families he had traveled to visit.
At the scene, Obi said he had been informed that youths allegedly sponsored by the state governor had blocked the road and were preventing him from proceeding. He did not name the governor in that specific statement.
“I am here in a place where people have been killed,” Obi said, condemning the alleged obstruction as the work of suspected political thugs and security operatives. He told reporters he had come only to show solidarity with affected families.
“I have been standing here since. We cannot have a country like this,” Obi said. “It does not make sense to me. The rascality is totally unacceptable.” His words were delivered directly at the site of the blockade, not at a press conference.
Esther Umoh, Obi’s media aide and official photographer, disclosed the incident in videos posted to her X handle shortly after it unfolded, writing that alleged sponsored thugs had blocked Boko Road by the Air Force Base, attempting to prevent Obi from gaining access into the state.
“People are being killed every day in Benue,” Obi said. “People want to condole them and show that they are with them. I came here only to be told we cannot go in.” He confirmed the statement at the scene before his convoy eventually withdrew.
A video of the incident went viral, drawing reactions from users on X. The footage showed the blocked road and the individuals involved in the obstruction, according to Umoh’s post accompanying the clip. The videos were among the first public documentation of the blockade to circulate widely online.
The NDC presidential candidate’s convoy was reportedly blocked by a stick-wielding mob at Boko Road while attempting to access the state. No security agency had issued a statement by the time this report was filed.
Obi’s visit was framed by his team as a non-partisan condolence trip. He said no political banners or campaign materials were part of the entourage and that his only intention was to sit with families who had lost loved ones to the ongoing killings in the state.
Benue State has recorded repeated incidents of deadly conflict between farming communities and armed herders. The violence has displaced residents and drawn national attention in recent weeks. Tuesday’s blocked visit meant that the communities Obi intended to reach did not receive the condolence call he had traveled to deliver.
The alleged obstruction involved suspected political thugs and security operatives, according to Obi. He stopped short of naming specific individuals beyond the reference to “youths sponsored by the governor.”
The Benue State Government had not reacted to the allegation of governor-sponsored thugs by the time this report was published. NDC did not release a formal party statement separate from Obi’s remarks at the scene.
Peter Obi, the NDC presidential candidate, left the Boko Road location after the blockade held. Whether his team rescheduled the condolence visit to the affected Benue communities was not confirmed by any named official source at the time of publication.
