The Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has responded to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s visit to Benue State in the wake of the recent massacre that claimed more than 200 lives.
Speaking through a statement released on Monday, Obi, who has consistently criticized President Tinubu’s leadership approach, described the visit as a welcome development. He said it was encouraging that the president had “finally decided to visit the scene of the brutal killings in Benue State”.
“It was refreshing news on Monday to a bewildered nation learning that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has finally decided to visit the scene of the brutal killings in Benue State. For this I thank him even as I make further requests that a similar gesture should be extended to Niger State, which lost a greater number of human lives in a natural disaster, a flood, recently,” Obi stated.
President Tinubu had earlier announced the rescheduling of his official trip to Kaduna State to allow him to personally assess the scale of destruction in Benue. According to his spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, the visit underscores Tinubu’s concern over the loss of lives and persistent insecurity in the region.
Obi, however, called on the president to extend similar attention to Niger State, where catastrophic flooding in Mokwa claimed over 200 lives and left more than 1,000 people missing.
“Both Benue and Niger States have lost over 200 lives each due to recent tragedies. In Mokwa alone, more than 200 people were confirmed dead, and over 1,000 are still missing following the floods. These are not just statistics; they are the lives of Nigerian families torn apart and their communities destroyed,” he said.
The former Anambra governor emphasized that visiting “devastated and grieving communities” would provide much-needed emotional support and reassurance to affected Nigerians.
“The presence of the president in these devastated and grieving communities will be very reassuring and uplifting,” Obi said.
He also urged the president to send a clear signal that all lives matter—regardless of geographic location or social status.
“Let his visit to Mokwa in Niger State send a strong message that all Nigerian lives matter and that no community, no matter how rural, is forgotten,” he added.
Obi concluded by calling on President Tinubu to step up efforts in securing disaster-prone and vulnerable regions across the country, noting the urgency of proactive governance in the face of multiple humanitarian and security crises.
