*We Will Not Condone Political Intolerance Ahead 2027, CP Warns
About 24 hours after the attack by suspected political thugs on the convoy of presidential candidate of Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, in Benue State, police in the Middle Belt state said they have nabbed 46 persons in connection with the matter.
Thugs suspected to be loyal to Benue State governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, reportedly blocked Obi’s convoy on his way to Yelwata, where he was billed to meet and commiserate with victims of the June 2025 terrorist attacks.
Trouble started a few meters away from the airport when Obi’s convoy ran into a roadblock on the two-lane Makurdi-Gboko federal highway.
People&Politics recalls that Yelwata in Guma Local Government Area (LGA) of the state was the scene of terrorist attacks in which over 200 persons, including women and children, were slaughtered, with entire families, in some cases, wiped out in the process, as they slept.
The bloodfest sparked local and international condemnation, with President Bola Tinubu paying a state visit to the crises-ridden state, meeting some survivors in hospital and ordering a manhunt for the killers.
The paper further recalls that it did not end there. International opprobrium over the Yelwata killings also compelled the United States (US) to weigh in on the matter, as highly respected Rep. Riley Moore, a President Donald Trump ally, led a powerful delegation to visit Benue State on 8 December, 2025, hear directly from some victims of terrorism and commiserate with them –a move that helped shape US policy on the state of religious tolerance in Nigeria.
State Commissioner of Police (CP), Cletus Nwadiogbu, who today disclosed the arrest of the 46 persons, added that investigation is underway as key leaders of the youth involved in the Obi convoy incident were being trailed.
Strictly warning against political hooliganism of any sort, the CP maintained that ahead of the 2027 general elections, no act of political intolerance will be condoned in the state.
Nwadiogbu said the Command would continue to take necessary steps to identify all those involved and ensure that anyone found culpable faces the full weight of the law.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Obi (l) and Gov. Alia.
