Keyamo Slams Blockade on Peter Obi in Benue, Blasts Media for Calling Mob Hostility Against APC ‘Rejection’ While Blaming Opposition Attacks on Thugs

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, SAN, has condemned the street blockade staged against opposition leader Peter Obi in Benue State, warning that crude intimidation has no place in democratic politics while calling out sections of the media for displaying partisan double standards in reporting political violence.

Keyamo’s intervention follows the interception of the motorcade belonging to the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate along Gboko Road in Makurdi, where stick-wielding protesters forced the former Anambra governor to abort his itinerary and execute an emergency turnaround.

Taking a principled stance on democratic freedom, the minister stated that the incident must be condemned by all well-meaning citizens, irrespective of party affiliations. He noted that whether the confrontation was a fallout of internal crises within the NDC—as claimed by the Benue State Government—or coordinated by external political rivals, blocking politicians from traveling freely across the federation constitutes an unacceptable assault on the democratic process.

Keyamo also brushed aside suggestions from critics who claimed that Obi’s planned visit to the agrarian community of Yelwata was an attempt to exploit past tragedies for partisan sympathy. The senior advocate argued that even if opponents disagreed with the timing or optics of the visit, political disagreements must never degenerate into physical obstruction, reiterating that every Nigerian retains the constitutional right to traverse any part of the country unmolested.

However, the federal minister used the opportunity to shine a light on what he characterized as deep-seated bias within the media landscape. Keyamo observed that news organizations routinely deploy contradictory language depending on who is being confronted.

According to him, whenever an aggressive crowd confronts or molests a candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), partisan outlets quickly spin the disturbance as genuine “rejection by the Nigerian people”. Conversely, when identical hostility is visited upon opposition politicians, the narrative abruptly shifts into headlines describing attacks orchestrated by “sponsored thugs” or “hoodlums”. Keyamo described the editorial disparity as unacceptable, calling on the press to abandon partisan curation and judge all political friction by a single standard of lawfulness.

The minister pointed out that opposition figures regularly make public declarations bragging that APC leaders cannot enter certain geographical zones without being assaulted, stoned, or harassed. He expressed dismay that such inflammatory declarations are rarely interrogated or condemned by commentators, who instead amplify the threats without holding the speakers accountable.

Maintaining that what is good for the goose must be good for the gander, Keyamo cautioned that tolerating hostility against one camp while crying foul over another invites widespread anarchy. He appealed to political platforms and their grassroots followers to conduct their campaigns with restraint, emphasizing that voters who feel dissatisfied with any government or candidate should reserve their verdict for the polling booth, expressing their anger through a peaceful thumbprint rather than violent disruptions on the highways.