Less than 48 hours to the arrival of President Muhammadu Buhari in Benue State, former President Olusegun Obasanjo made a surprise visit to condole with the government and people of the state over the New Year massacre by herdsmen.
The former president also visited the gravesite of the 73 victims of herdsmen who were given a mass burial.
Obasanjo arrived at the airport of the Nigerian Air Force, located along Gboko Road, Makurdi, at 9.45am and was driven straight to the gravesite, where he laid a wreath.
Speaking to journalists, the former president sympathised with the government and families of the departed souls.
He said, “It is sad and beyond description. That is why I have taken it upon myself, having been to Maiduguri, where we had a meeting of zero hunger forum. If circumstances were normal, the Benue governor would have been with us.
“I am here to pay a condolence visit and share the sadness of Benue people with them. I felt coming to the gravesite and laying a wreath would express my sorrow, sympathy and empathy with the families, governor and all the people of the state, and indeed all Nigerians without any exception.”
According to Obasanjo, life is sacred and the loss of any Nigerian is a loss to everyone.
“Hearing that, aside from the 73 buried here, more than 80 others have been killed is even more shocking to me and to all Nigerians,” he added.
The former president attributed the incessant killings in the country to the failure of the country to “get it right.”
He stated, “We cannot talk of a free, secure country, where we will want development to take place and investors to come and suffer in this type of senselessness. I do hope that there would be an end to this.”
While condoling with Ortom, Obasanjo advised him not to give up, adding that he should work with those who had the interest of the state and Nigeria at heart, so as to find a solution to the problem.
When asked whether he would like to visit the internally displaced persons in the camp, the former president said he would have loved to but that his coming was not planned. He added that he was coming from the zero-hunger meeting in Maiduguri, Borno State.
Benue hosted the maiden edition of the meeting in 2017.
Immediately after his brief visit to the gravesite, Obasanjo returned to the airport, through which he departed at 10.59am.
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