I will restore peace in Benue, IDPs will go back home – Peter Obi

The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, yesterday, promised voters in Benue State that his government, if elected president next year, would return peace and security to the state and restore its status as the food basket of the nation.

Obi, who was joined by his wife, and his running mate, Datti Ahmed-Baba, said the Nigerian economy collapsed, because “we have people in government who don’t know anything about government and they are just wasting people’s time.”

At the rally, a former House of Representatives member, Hon. Herman Hembe, accused the PDP government in Benue State of promoting the anti-grazing law, which he claimed was originally designed to tackle herders menace in the state, but turned out to be one that has caged the people of the state.

Addressing thousands of his supporters at the IBB Square in Makurdi, Obi said he had made a pact with the people of “Nigeria to hold him accountable to every promise he made during his campaigns.

“I want you to put it down today that this is what I said I am going to do if I become president. I will come back to you. I will come to Benue. You will come to Abuja, I will come to you myself and give you the support you need.

“I assure you, I will restore peace in Benue. IDPs will go back home. Farmers will go back to their farms and we will ensure that we support them to produce more food for the country. Agricultural activities in the states and across the country will return to normal. We will secure a united Nigeria. Benue is not civil servants town.

“We have the opportunity to make Lagos a financial hub, we have opportunity to take advantage from the oil from the South-south and the land in the north for food security but we failed because we have people who don’t know anything in government and they are just wasting people’s time.

“Nigeria will not continue like this. We will start building a new Nigeria, where there is love and peace. Federal Government of Nigerian under Obi-Datti will support all states to become productive. Our youths will be part of our government and we will make them productive. That’s why I said you will not come to Abuja, we will come to you.”