The governorship candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress in Benue State, Prof Terhemba Shija, says a greater number of Benue people will stand by the party’s presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi, during the 2027 general elections.
Shija spoke to our reporter in the aftermath of Obi’s aborted visit to the state. He described the former Anambra State governor as the kind of leader that Nigeria requires.
He said, “His Excellency Peter Obi has demonstrated temperance. His approach to what happened in Benue State means that he is ready to take this country forward. Peter Obi has shown promise that he can do things differently, and Nigerians will smile. We will stand by him; we will go according his values, and we will take this state for him and the rest of Nigeria. When Peter Obi contested the presidency in 2023, in spite of all the rigging, he was marginally defeated. Then a lot of us were not with him. Most of the politicians in Benue State have seen the light. We have teamed up behind Peter Obi. There is no way a group in the minority is going to defeat us. Nobody will stop us.”
Shija, a professor of literary theory at Nasarawa State University, Keffi, also lamented the level of insecurity in Benue State. He called for a collective effort to restore peace in the state.
“Benue has not known peace for a long time,” Shija said. “It appears somebody who wants to do things differently is being stopped. But unfortunately they are in the minority. This is our state. This state has suffered a lot. The government has normalised this suffering. Over one million people are in IDP camps. There are a lot of ungoverned spaces in this state. There are a lot of places you go in Benue that there are no schools, markets, no social activity. You can’t go to Guma and Sankara when you are bereaved because of insecurity.”
He said NDC is gathering momentum in the state, adding that it is being “powered by people who want peace” for the state.
