Peter Obi reacts to abduction of 14 JAMB candidates in Benue

Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate for the Labour Party has reacted to reports on the abduction of 14 candidates for the 2026 Joint Admissions and Matriculation (JAMB) examination in Benue State.

Obi described the incident as “just heartbreaking but a damning indictment of the failure of leadership and the collapse of security in our nation.”

Recall that POLITICS NIGERIA had reported that candidates travelling for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), a standardised computer-based test in Nigeria conducted annually by JAMB were abducted by some gunmen along the Makurdi-Otukpo Road late Wednesday.

Sources said the students were heading to the venue of their examinations which was scheduled to take place on Thursday, April 16.

While the Police in the state had stated that there is a possibility that the students on board the state-owned Benue Links had travelled outside an approved time, Obi said it is unfortunate that young Nigerians striving for an education are being met with terror.

He also warned that the country cannot continue to operate in such a manner where those saddled with the responsibility of protecting are only preoccupied with the coming elections.

His words, “In a country where the share of tertiary graduates is already painfully low (about 1%) which is far below peers like Indonesia (about 13%) and South Africa (around 10%). This is unacceptable. We cannot afford to lose even one more student to violence.

“Those entrusted with protecting these young students appear increasingly preoccupied with the next election, projecting strength and power to rig elections, rather than deploying that same power and agencies to secure our roads, prevent these crimes, and rescue the abducted children who should not be in the hands of criminals but in examination halls.

“This is no longer an isolated tragedy. It is a pattern. It is a national crisis. And it demands urgent, decisive, and responsible action, not excuses, not silence, but leadership that matches the scale of the emergency this deserves.

“A nation that abandons its youth abandons its future. This cannot continue,” Obi wrote on X.