Obi Compares India’s Leader’s Response to Plane Crash and Tinubu’s Response to Benue Killings

Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi has sharply criticized President Bola Tinubu’s response to the recent massacre in Benue State, where over 200 individuals were killed by suspected armed herders. 

Obi contrasted this with the swift and compassionate leadership demonstrated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who personally visited the families of victims following a deadly plane crash.

“In India, after a plane crash killed nearly 200 people, the Prime Minister was physically at the scene within hours.

“In South Africa, when floods claimed 78 lives, the president went personally to the affected communities, stood with them, and took responsibility.

“That is leadership with compassion. That is leadership that understands the value of human life. But here in Nigeria, we have normalised leadership without empathy, without accountability, and without a human face.”

In a statement on Monday, Obi expressed deep concern over the lack of presidential presence and empathy in the aftermath of the Benue tragedy.  He noted that despite the proximity of the disaster to the nation’s capital, there was no official visit or public mourning from President Tinubu.  Obi emphasized that true leadership is characterized by competence, capacity, character, and compassion, qualities he believes are currently lacking in Nigeria’s leadership.

Drawing a comparison to India’s response, Obi highlighted how Prime Minister Modi’s immediate visit to the crash site and engagement with grieving families showcased a leadership that values human life and demonstrates accountability.  Obi lamented that such a response has become rare in Nigeria, where similar tragedies often go unaddressed by top officials.

The former Anambra State Governor called on Nigerians to elect leaders who embody these four essential qualities, arguing that the nation’s challenges cannot be overcome without a leadership that is both competent and compassionate.  He urged the government to take immediate action to address the security situation and prevent further loss of life.

“Leadership of a nation is such that it’s either succeeding or failing, none can be hidden. There are critical areas of leadership that must exist for a nation to move forward, and these are summed up in four Cs: Competence, Capacity, Character and Compassion. Where these four are non-existent, there is no magic you can do.

“It’s in this line that I have always maintained that we must move away from voting based on tribe and religion, and begin to vote for people with competence, capacity, character, and compassion, because we have all seen, painfully, what leadership without these qualities has done to our country.

“Competence because Nigeria today needs a leader who understands the issues, who has the knowledge, experience, and clear ideas to solve them. Capacity because it is not a ceremonial position; it requires strength, stamina, and the mental energy to confront our complex challenges. And above all, leadership must be rooted in character and integrity because without integrity, public trust collapses, corruption thrives, and selfishness takes over. But perhaps most importantly, we need compassion, because when a leader lacks compassion, human lives are treated as statistics, and suffering is ignored.”