It is no longer enough to have good intentions. You must have the right godfather, the right logo, the right slogan, and worst of all the right timing approved by invisible political gatekeepers. Otherwise, even a visit to comfort displaced citizens becomes a threat.
That is the tragedy behind what happened when Peter Obi attempted to visit Benue State.
Obi, former governor and presidential candidate, has long made it his practice to visit Nigerians in need,quietly, respectfully, and often with personal resources. This time, his mission was clear.
Visit victims at an IDP camp, support students at a nursing school, and pay courtesy visits to local leaders. Plateau State welcomed him.
Benue blocked him
And not with subtlety. A press release from the state government made the rounds just as Obi and his team reached Akwanga, detailing his itinerary word-for-word, an itinerary previously shared only with the governor’s ADC and the security operatives for transparency. Suddenly, security advice shifted. Suddenly, his trip was deemed inconvenient. Suddenly, he was turned back.
What was the crime? Visiting Nigerians who have lost everything? Supporting a school for nurses in a region where healthcare is gasping for breath? Showing empathy in a time when indifference has become government policy?
It makes no sense, unless you understand the sickness in our politics.
Here, every act is interpreted through the lens of power. Nothing is innocent. Nothing is simply humanitarian. If you donate food, you are mobilizing. If you comfort victims, you are plotting. If you speak the truth, you are “eyeing 2027.”
We politicize everything.
We politicize grief.
We politicize poverty.
We politicize displacement.
We politicize even the right to be kind.
We politicize hunger.
We politicize education.
We politicize displacement.
We politicize disaster.
We politicize people’s pain.
And what is most painful is that this isn’t about Peter Obi. It’s about what Nigeria is becoming. It’s about the culture of suspicion, the obsession with control, the fear of being shown up,not through insult or attack, but through decency.
You don’t have to support him to see the problem. Any decent person, regardless of party, should be alarmed by this. Because tomorrow, it could be someone else. Another leader, another governor, another act of kindness interpreted as a political threat.
We are at a crossroads as a country. We don’t need more bitterness. We need bridges. We need to let go of this idea that everything must serve political interest before it serves people. Not everything is politics. Somethings are just about being human.
What message are we sending to future leaders who genuinely want to serve? That even if they try to be civil, respectful, and compassionate, they will be sabotaged? That humanitarian acts must be scheduled through egos instead of needs?
Peter Obi didn’t throw tantrums. He didn’t call names. He didn’t rage or curse. He simply issued a heartfelt statement:
May God help us as we aim to achieve a new Nigeria where we do not politicize everything.
But that gentle prayer should hit us hard.
And in that line lies a question for every Nigerian.
How did we get here? How did we get to a place where displaced children, traumatized mothers, and hopeful nursing students must wait for political clearance to receive love?
This isn’t leadership. This is cowardice masquerading as control.
When a leader sees another person’s compassion as a threat, he has lost his moral compass. When the poor become pawns in a power game, governance has failed.
His journey may be blocked, but the message went through. Nigerians are watching. Nigerians are reading between the lines. We know what time it is. We know who stands with the people.
It is not enough to build roads and wear white cassocks on Sunday. Leadership is not decoration. It is service. And when service becomes theater, the people suffer.
There was once a time when being a Reverend Father meant your conscience was above politics. When being a public servant meant you served without bias, without fear, without the need to play puppet to party overlords. But today, it seems even the pulpit can’t protect us from the pettiness of power!
Let us be honest.We are bleeding as a country.
Our economy is crumbling, our students are disillusioned, our IDP camps are overflowing, and our healthcare system is ailing. In times like this, anyone willing to lend a hand should be embraced, not resisted. And if politics is your reason for saying no, then politics has become a curse.
A school in Gboko will remain unfinished. An IDP camp in Makurdi will remain unseen. All because politics told kindness to wait.
Imagine a child peeking through a tent flap, watching a convoy turn around,not because it couldn’t find the road, but because the road was blocked by pride. Imagine what that child will grow up believing.
We say we want a better Nigeria, yet we destroy the very acts that build it.
Peter Obi’s blocked visit should not be a footnote. It should be a warning. Because when politics begins to fear compassion, a nation is not just broken,it is lost.
And if we still have any conscience, if we still want this country to work, then we must stop weaponizing everything. Every visit must not be a campaign. Every act of love must not be suspect. Every difference in party must not equal enmity.
A new Nigeria is possible
But only if we stop fearing those who are trying to build it differently.
The people are watching. And history remembers.
•Stephanie Shaakaa, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State.
