The Benue State Commissioner for Information, Solomon Iorpev, has accused the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, of failing to follow the required protocol during his visit to the state.
Iorpev made the allegation while reacting to an incident on Tuesday in which some youths reportedly blocked Obi’s convoy during his visit to Benue.
The commissioner said Obi, being a former governor and high-profile political figure, was expected to officially notify the state government ahead of his visit so that adequate security arrangements could be made.
According to him, the state government is responsible for providing security and protection for high-profile visitors, but could not guarantee Obi’s safety because it was not officially informed of his visit.
“We are supposed to guarantee his safety and protection, but in an instance where no letter was written, we could not guarantee his safety,” Iorpev said.
He added that the incident was not the first time Obi had allegedly visited the state without informing the government, describing his actions as an attempt to “look for our trouble.”
The commissioner, however, said he did not know the youths responsible for blocking Obi’s convoy.
He explained that Obi’s visit coincided with a meeting of youths from the 23 local government areas of the state, adding that it was possible some of the youths travelling from different parts of Benue may have caused the disruption.
“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,” he said.
