Benue State Commissioner for Information, Solomon Iorpev, has accused the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, of deliberately testing the patience of the state government over his visits to Benue.
Iorpev made the remark while reacting to the incident on Tuesday in which youths reportedly blocked Obi’s convoy during his planned visit to Yelwata.
According to the commissioner, Obi failed to follow the required protocol by not formally notifying the state government of his arrival, despite being a former governor and a high-profile political figure.
He explained that the state government was expected to make adequate security arrangements for Obi but could not do so without prior official notification.
He said, “A high-profile person who has been a former governor of a state is coming into the state; he should have written a letter to the State Government.
We are supposed to guarantee his safety and protection, but in an instance where no letter was written, we could not guarantee his safety.
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“This is not the first time he is doing this. He is just looking for our trouble. We are peace loving and hospitable people.”
Iorpev, however, said he could not identify the youths responsible for blocking Obi’s movement.
He explained that Obi’s visit happened to coincide with a gathering of youths drawn from the 23 local government areas of Benue State, suggesting that the timing may have contributed to the incident.
The commissioner said, “So, if they were coming from either Tarka, Gboko, Buruku, Ushongo, Konshisha or Vandeikya at the same time of his visit and blocked the road, it is unfortunate. I do not know the youths who did that,” the commissioner said.