The convoy of the presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, was on Tuesday blocked from accessing a community in Benue State where he had gone to commiserate with victims of recent killings.

The incident occurred along Gnoko Road, near the Air Force Base, shortly after Obi arrived in the state.

The convoy was reportedly stopped by a group of youths, with Obi alleging that they were sponsored by the state governor to prevent him from proceeding to the affected community.

Obi, who remained at the scene for some time, said he had been informed that the youths were responsible for the blockade.

“I am here in a place where people have been killed. I am here to commiserate with them, but now I have been told that youths sponsored by the governor have blocked the road and made sure I do not go in,” he said.

The development prevented Obi and his team from gaining access to the area where he intended to pay a condolence visit to communities affected by the killings.

Reacting to the incident, Obi described the development as unacceptable, expressing concern that people seeking to visit victims of violence and show solidarity should be allowed to do so.

“We cannot have a country like this. It does not make sense to me. The rascality is totally unacceptable,” he said.

However, the Benue State Government has distanced itself from the incident, saying it was not aware of Obi’s visit to the state.

The Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Kula Tersoo, said in a telephone interview that the government was surprised by the development and denied that any youths acted on behalf of the government.

“We are not aware of his coming to the state, and if it were to be security agents that stopped him, it would have been easy for us to find out what happened,” Tersoo said.

He questioned the absence of adequate security arrangements around Obi, noting that as a presidential candidate and former governor, he was entitled to security protection.

“As presidential candidate of a party and former governor, he is a property of the Federal Government and ought to have been given security. Where are those security agents around him? And if he is going to any state, the security of the host state should know so as to provide security for him,” he said.

Tersoo also expressed surprise that youths could prevent Obi from gaining access to the area, insisting that they could not have been acting on behalf of the state government.

“We were surprised that youths would stop someone. Youth cannot do anything on behalf of government. Our government doesn’t patronise thugs and, in any case, Obi is not a threat to the governor,” he said.