Attack on Peter Obi’s convoy: Dan Onjeh exonerates  Benue youths

The Benue South Senatorial candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Daniel Onjeh, has exonerated Benue youths from the attack on the convoy of the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, in the state.

Onjeh, who was standing beside Obi when the incident occurred, said those who barricaded the convoy during Obi’s attempted humanitarian visit to Yelwata were predominantly middle-aged men in their 40s and 50s.

He warned against portraying the incident as a rejection of Obi by Benue youths, saying the development was inconsistent with the support the former Anambra State governor received from young people in the state during the 2023 presidential election.

Onjeh, a former APC senatorial candidate for Benue South in the 2023 election, recalled that Obi polled 308,372 votes in Benue State, narrowly trailing the APC presidential candidate, who scored 310,468 votes.

He added that Obi polled more than 95,000 votes in Benue South Senatorial District, while the APC and PDP presidential candidates recorded about 40,000 votes each or less.

“Young people constituted a potent part of that voting force. So, how can the same young people who came out in their numbers and voted overwhelmingly for Peter Obi suddenly be presented as the people who mobilised with sticks and stones to prevent him from entering Makurdi?

“It simply does not add up. Peter Obi was not rejected by Benue, and he was certainly not rejected by Benue youths,” Onjeh said.

He said he had received numerous calls and messages from young people across the state expressing anger and embarrassment over the incident and rejecting the description of those involved as “Benue youths.”

According to him, some of those who contacted him had asked Obi to return to Benue to give them an opportunity to demonstrate that the incident did not represent the position of the state’s youths.

Onjeh, a former president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), said his experience in the student and youth movement made it necessary for him to speak out against what he described as the collective labelling of an entire generation.

“As a former President of NANS, I understand what it means when young people are collectively labelled for actions they did not commit,” he said.

He also challenged the public to examine videos and photographs from the incident, arguing that the people seen carrying sticks and stones and barricading the road were predominantly middle-aged men.

“I was standing right beside Mr Peter Obi and saw these men at close range. They were predominantly middle-aged men, many visibly in their 40s and 50s.

“And we must not confuse somebody’s manner of dressing with his age. The fact that a man wears jeans and a T-shirt does not confer the status of youth on him,” Onjeh said.

The former chairman of the Governing Board of the Projects Development Institute (PRODA), Enugu, argued that men in their 40s and 50s fall outside recognised definitions of youth.

He said responsibility for the incident should be placed on those who participated in it rather than on thousands of young people who had no connection with the attack.

“Those were not the Benue youths that I know. We must not take the shameful conduct of a handful of thugs and place it at the doorstep of an entire generation,” he said.

Onjeh also questioned the location of the barricade, saying the convoy was stopped shortly after leaving the airport and before Obi could enter the heart of Makurdi.

He alleged that the positioning of the barricade was intended to prevent Obi from reaching Wurukum Roundabout, where residents and supporters could have gathered after learning of his presence in the state capital.

“If that convoy had made it through to Wurukum Roundabout and the young people got wind that Peter Obi was in town, the story would have been entirely different,” he said.

Onjeh stressed that Obi’s visit was humanitarian and not a political campaign, saying the presidential candidate had intended to visit Yelwata, honour victims of the recent violence, sympathise with bereaved families, meet survivors and visit internally displaced persons.

“This was not a campaign visit. Peter Obi did not want noise. He did not want fanfare,” he said.

He said only a few NDC leaders and members were at the airport to receive Obi because of the low-key nature of the visit, adding that the relevant security agencies had been informed ahead of his arrival.

Onjeh further recalled that Obi had previously visited victims of attacks in the Otukpo area of Benue South, where he was peacefully received.

He described Obi’s attempt to visit victims of insecurity as a humanitarian gesture and expressed regret that the mission was aborted.

Onjeh called on journalists, political actors and commentators to stop referring to those responsible for the attack collectively as “Benue youths.”

He said young people should be allowed to express their political choices through democratic means ahead of the 2027 elections.

“Do not speak for Benue youths with stones. Do not speak for them with sticks. Do not speak for them with a barricade. Allow them to speak for themselves,” he said.

Onjeh also condemned political thuggery, warning that normalising violence against political opponents could eventually threaten every political tendency.

“Today it is Peter Obi. Tomorrow it could be the candidate of another political party. If we normalise thuggery simply because its immediate target is somebody we do not support, eventually nobody will be safe from the monster we have created.

“The answer to a candidate you do not support is not a stone. It is your vote,” he said.

He expressed confidence that Benue youths would have another opportunity to make their political choices through the ballot box in 2027.

“In 2023, they spoke through the ballot box. In 2027, they will have another opportunity to speak.

“A barricade is not a ballot. Thuggery is not democracy. And the men who attacked Peter Obi’s convoy must never be allowed to become the face of the courageous youths of Benue State,” Onjeh concluded.