Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has condemned President Bola Tinubu’s go to to Benue State following the latest bloodbath of over 200 individuals within the state, describing the journey as “a carnival, not a condolence.”
In an announcement posted on his official X deal with on Thursday, June 19, Obi criticised each the President and the Benue State authorities for turning what ought to have been a sombre second of nationwide mourning right into a fanfare.
“We pleaded that the President ought to present management and go to Benue and Niger States within the spirit of deep nationwide mourning, to supply compassion and solidarity to households torn aside by the mindless bloodbath of over 200 harmless Nigerians in Benue State and flooding that killed related quantity in Niger State,” he wrote.
Obi mentioned what transpired in Benue was not a show of empathy however yet one more fitted to commissioning a highway.
“What we noticed in Benue go to was as an alternative of a solemn, reflective go to, a show that might have been extra befitting for the commissioning of reconstructed Enugu-Makurdi freeway, a crucial highway connecting South and Northern Nigeria which had turn out to be impassable for years,” he said.
He additionally took subject with the President’s alternative of apparel and the conduct of the state authorities.
“The President arrived not in mourning material however in celebratory agbada apparel, prefer it was an event for pleasure,” he mentioned.
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Obi described the presence of schoolchildren who sang and danced within the rain to welcome the President as deeply troubling.
“Much more heartbreaking is the function of the State. Quite than being in mourning temper and weeping, declared a public vacation, not for reflection or prayer, however to organise fanfare. Colleges had been shut down.
“Youngsters who needs to be mourning their slaughtered classmates, and fogeys had been as an alternative lined up beneath the rain, rehearsed to sing and dance for the President. In what sort of nation does this occur?” he requested.
In accordance with the previous Anambra governor, the whole scene mirrored a worrying erosion of nationwide empathy.
“We’ve got tragically arrived at a degree the place condolence visits have turn out to be carnivals. A time that needs to be marked by silence and solemnity is now polluted by banners, music, and rehearsed spectacles.
“Valuable Nigerian lives have been misplaced, but we’re clapping, singing, and organizing processions, as if this had been a marketing campaign rally,” Obi wrote.
He argued that the sources spent on what he known as “a charade” might have been channelled into serving to the affected households with fundamental wants and trauma assist.
Obi cited worldwide examples to distinction what he sees as the precise method leaders reply to nationwide tragedies.
“Look elsewhere: When President Ramaphosa visited Mthatha after the floods in South Africa, there have been no drums. No staged crowds. No rented cheers. Simply presence, silence, and motion.
“When Prime Minister Modi went to the location of a crash, nobody lined as much as welcome him. He got here, he mourned, he acted. That’s what management seems to be like in moments of ache,” he mentioned.
Obi closed his assertion with a grim warning concerning the path Nigeria is on.
“Sufficient of this tradition of impunity. We’re not at warfare but our nation is bleeding, and we’re clapping. It isn’t solely insensitive, it’s harmful,” he mentioned.
“When very unhappy incidents like this turns to marketing campaign or competition, our Nation Dropping Its Soul.”
