2027 presidential hopeful Peter Obi visits Otukpo-Nobi and Efeyi-Ugboju communities in Benue State, condoles with victims' families, and calls on the FG to intensify protection efforts after recent deadly attacks.
Otukpo, Benue State — August 15, 2026
Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) 2027 presidential candidate Peter Obi has called on the Federal Government to intensify efforts to protect lives and property, following a visit to communities in Benue State recently hit by deadly attacks.
The former Anambra State governor visited Otukpo-Nobi and Efeyi-Ugboju communities in Otukpo Local Government Area, where residents have suffered a string of attacks in recent weeks that left multiple people dead, missing, and injured.
In a statement posted on his X handle on Friday, Obi said that in Otukpo-Nobi, over 10 people were either killed or went missing, with several others injured and hospitalised. At Efeyi-Ugboju, the site of the mass burials held earlier this month for victims of a late-July attack, Obi said over 13 people were reportedly killed, with several others injured.
He added that he was also informed during the visit that 14 people had been kidnapped along Ankpechi Road earlier that same morning, pointing to the compounding scale of insecurity currently facing the local government area.
During the visit, Obi commiserated with families who lost loved ones and expressed solidarity with residents still grappling with the aftermath of the violence, offering words of comfort to the bereaved and acknowledging the grief and suffering the attacks have caused.
He renewed his call for the Federal Government to move beyond condemnations and take concrete steps to protect communities across Benue, a demand he has repeated in previous statements following earlier waves of attacks in the state and in neighbouring Plateau.
Otukpo LGA has recorded a series of deadly incidents in recent weeks, including the July 28 attack that led to mass burials of 16 and 13 victims respectively in Efeyi-Ugboju, alongside the kidnapping of a bus-load of passengers reported by Benue Police just a day before Obi's visit.
The visit adds Obi's voice to a growing chorus of political and civil society figures, including diaspora and religious groups, pressing federal authorities to act more decisively on the security crisis gripping Nigeria's North Central region.
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