By Pascal Ibe

Introduction

On Tuesday, 8 September, youths suspected to be loyalists of one of the political parties were reported to have mounted roadblocks on the two-lane Makurdi-Gboko federal highway, preventing Peter Obi from passing through to Yelewata, where he was billed to meet and commiserate with victims of the June 2025 attacks.

The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate was said to have arrived at the Makurdi airport located at the Tactical Air Command Makurdi on Tuesday morning, and was received by the governorship candidate of the party, Terhemba Shija, along with party officials amid jubilation and cultural dance performance.

But trouble reportedly started a few meters away from the airport when Obi’s convoy ran into a roadblock on the two-lane Makurdi-Gboko federal highway by angry youths.

The blockade led to traffic congestion as the road was closed to all users.

Obi, while reacting to the incident, cautioned youths against yielding themselves as instruments of violence to the very people who created the poor conditions to which they have been subjected.

On Wednesday, the Benue State Government accused  Obi, of breaching protocol with his visit to the state.

Claim

However, a video which claims to show Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State responding to Obi over the incident, has spread online.

An X user, @HighChiefOkoro who posted (archived here) the video on 10 September, claimed that Governor Alia responded to Obi over his visit to the state.

The X user posted the video and wrote, “I never see where Rev. Fr. vex before, Abeg make Obi no near Benue till this Governor administration finish o”

A Facebook page, Tax Advocate, posted the same video with a caption that reads, “WATCH: Benue Governor Fires Back at Former Governor, Speaks Out on Controversial Issues”

Verification

To verify whether the video is recent or not, FACTWATCH Nigeria first entered the keywords from the governor in the clip into Google, words like, “

“Even if you are a former governor of Benue State, if you don’t have anything positive to contribute to Benue, shut up.”

Results from the keyword search led us to reports from the video in April 2024.

We discovered that the video was from 2024, when Governor Alia advised former governors of Benue State who have nothing positive to contribute to the state to shut up and allow him to deliver on the promises he made to the people.

According to Vanguard in April 2024, Governor Alia made comments when he addressed members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), APC Riders, Benue Riders Coalition for Alia and other groups who came to welcome him back to the state after his working visit to the United States of America at that time.

The Benue governor said those who governed the state in the past have had their time and should allow peace in the state to enable him to work for the people.

See the news websites that reported the story then here and here.

FACTWATCH Nigeria understands that the video from 2024, began to trend again after a TikTok page, @benuestategovernment1, republished it in August.

Verdict

Simple findings indicated that the video used to depict Governor Alia’s response to Obi over the blockade of the NDC presidential candidate’s convoy was from 2024 and NOT very recent.

Therefore, the claim is FALSE.