Benue killings: VeryDarkMan showed more empathy than Peter Obi – Presidency

The Presidency has stirred controversy by claiming that popular social media critic, Martins Otse, widely known as VeryDarkMan, displayed more empathy than Peter Obi, the former Labour Party presidential candidate, in response to the recent tragic killings in Benue State.

Speaking during an interview on Channels Television, Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser on Policy Communication to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, accused Obi of politicizing the tragedy.

Bwala was reacting to Obi’s criticism of President Tinubu’s failure to visit Yelewata, a community in Guma Local Government Area, where dozens of residents were recently killed in coordinated attacks by suspected armed herders.

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Bwala said, “VeryDarkMan has more empathy than Peter Obi, he is not a politician but he was in Benue. Why does he have to wait until he becomes president before he gets to Benue? Empathy is personal.”

He described Obi as an “internally displaced politician” and accused him of playing politics with the tragedy in the state.

“One thing about leadership is that you have so many things and you have to prioritize them. If the president were to be physically in Yelewata, would it have made the difference that he was in Benue?” Bwala asked.

He dismissed Obi’s criticisms as lacking in substance, adding, “Some of this rhetoric of Peter Obi and the opposition is neither here nor there. They lack basic things to talk about.

“If he was not in Benue they would say he was not in Benue, now he went to Benue, why didn’t he go to Yelewata? The shifting of goalposts is one of the elements you will find in these internally displaced politicians.

“How many of them are gasping for power now, who among them have gone there?”

Reacting to Obi’s assertion that Tinubu should have visited the massacre site instead of commissioning a project, Bwala argued that the president was constitutionally represented.

“Peter Obi was talking about the president commissioning something instead of going to where people died, if he understands the institutions of the presidency, if he understands leadership or even knows the constitution of Nigeria, he would know that under Section 5, the president exercises that power through the Vice President, ministers, agency heads, and government of the Federation.

“The NSA has been going to all these places where there are crises, the military officers have been going to all these places where there are crises, the intelligence officers have been going to all these places where there are crises.

“These individuals are Representatives of Mr President, except he doesn’t know what section 5 is,” he added.