Obi Visit: Police Commissioner Clears Benue Govt, Says NDC Never Asked Him to Notify Alia

By Jeremy Fregene
The Commissioner of Police in Benue State, Cletus Nwadiogbu, has clarified the controversy surrounding Peter Obi’s disrupted visit to the state, saying the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, never asked him to transmit its notification letter to Governor Hyacinth Alia.

Nwadiogbu said the NDC delegation that visited him presented the letter specifically to enable the police to make security arrangements for Obi, stressing that he assumed the party had independently handled every other protocol connected with the visit.

The clarification appears to reinforce the Benue State Government’s earlier position that it was not formally notified of Obi’s planned visit to Yelwata community in Guma Local Government Area.

Speaking on Channels Television’s Lunch Time Politics on Thursday, the police commissioner explained that NDC officials had informed his Police Public Relations Officer that they intended to meet him on the eve of Obi’s visit.

According to him, the delegation was initially expected at about 3pm but did not arrive until approximately 5:30pm, when senior officers were preparing to leave the office.

“They visited me; by the end of the discussion, they presented me with a letter and told me the main issue that brought them: that the presidential candidate is going to be in town by 8 am the next day,” Nwadiogbu said.

He said the short notice immediately presented a security challenge because police personnel were already deployed on different assignments across the state.

The commissioner said he informed the delegation that policemen could not simply be pulled out of existing duties at a moment’s notice, particularly given manpower constraints confronting police commands nationwide.

According to him, NDC officials assured him that Obi, the party’s presidential candidate, was not travelling to Benue for a political campaign but merely for a visit and would therefore require only limited security.

Nwadiogbu said he nevertheless considered a minimal deployment inadequate for a presidential candidate and consequently approved three fully complemented patrol teams for Obi.

“I’d not give a VIP that few men. I am going to make sure I provide three patrol teams with full complements, and that was exactly what I did,” he said.

The teams, he added, were placed under the Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of operations.

But addressing the key controversy over whether the notification handed to him was supposed to be forwarded to Governor Alia, Nwadiogbu said the NDC delegation gave him no such instruction.

“They never told me to transmit to anybody,” he said.

According to the commissioner, his understanding was that the party had completed whatever other arrangements or notifications were necessary and had approached the police specifically to secure Obi’s movement.

“The assumption is that they have finished every other aspect of what they want to do and how they are going about their movement. They came to inform me that the information is basically for provision of security, and that was what I did,” he said.

His explanation provides a significant clarification in the dispute that followed the blockade of Obi’s convoy by youths along the Makurdi-Gboko Federal Highway on Tuesday.

The Benue State Government had maintained that neither Governor Alia nor his administration had prior knowledge of the visit, amid questions over whether appropriate protocol had been followed before Obi travelled to Yelwata, scene of a deadly attack last year.

Nwadiogbu also explained that the police teams assigned to Obi were deployed to provide security for his movement and were not constituted to “combat protests.”

The NDC and Obi’s supporters have condemned the obstruction of his convoy and alleged that the incident was politically motivated.

The Young Progressives Party, YPP, also condemned the blockade on Thursday and called for the identification, arrest and prosecution of those responsible.

In a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Martins Egbeola, the party described the incident as “deeply troubling and totally unacceptable,” arguing that freedom of movement and participation in legitimate political activities were constitutionally guaranteed.

The YPP said Obi, like every Nigerian and presidential candidate, was entitled to travel anywhere in the country for legitimate engagements without intimidation or harassment.

It also disagreed with the explanation offered by the Benue State Government, maintaining that political activities ahead of the 2027 elections were already underway and that Obi required no permission to enter the state.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, African Democratic Congress, ADC, governorship candidate in Kaduna State, Isa Ashiru, has demanded an investigation into an alleged attack on members of his party during a rally in Kaduna.

A statement by his spokesperson, Abdulwaheed Adubi, alleged that members of the Kaduna State Vigilance Service disrupted a rally organised by the Arise & Shine Isa Ashiru Support Group to mark the flag-off of the party’s governorship and State House of Assembly campaigns.

Ashiru alleged that participants were harassed, some lost phones and other valuables, while two female ADC members sustained injuries and were taken to hospital.

He called for an investigation, arguing that a state-supported security organisation should protect participants and maintain public order rather than intimidate citizens attending lawful gatherings.