Former presidential candidate Peter Obi has condemned the sexual assault and harassment of women during the controversial Alue-Do festival in Ozoro, Isoko North Local Government Area of Delta State, describing the attacks as a stark symbol of Nigeria’s misplaced priorities.

In a strongly worded statement titled Channelling Our Women to Critical Areas of Development, Obi said the spectacle of young women being chased, stripped and molested in public was not only criminal but a tragic diversion from the urgent task of national development.

He argued that while other nations are investing heavily in human capital, Nigeria continues to tolerate practices that degrade women instead of empowering them. Women, he noted, make up more than half of the country’s population and should be at the centre of economic and social planning.

Obi pointed to global examples where women drive growth and stability. In Indonesia, he said, women own more than half of small and medium-scale enterprises, which collectively provide the overwhelming majority of jobs. In Bangladesh, women constitute about 60 percent of the workforce in the garment industry, the country’s top export earner and a sector that generates tens of billions of dollars annually.

By contrast, he said, Nigeria remains fixated on “trivialities” such as the Ozoro festival, where viral videos showed women being hunted down and assaulted in broad daylight. Such incidents, he warned, reflect a profound misplacement of values and a failure to recognise women as key agents of development.

Obi called for a decisive shift toward policies that educate, protect and economically empower women, integrating them into leadership and management structures across sectors. Harnessing their potential, he argued, could help move Nigeria from a struggling state to a productive and inclusive nation.

Following public outrage, the Delta State Police Command confirmed the arrest of several suspects linked to the festival, including a community leader identified as Omorede Sunday and four alleged organisers. They have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further interrogation.

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons also denounced the attacks as barbaric and a grave violation of human rights, pledging to support investigations and push for justice for the victims while working to prevent similar abuses in the future.