The governor of Benue, Samuel Ortom, has endorsed Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, ahead of the upcoming election.<\/p>\n
Ortom, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), revealed the endorsement at a town hall meeting in the state capital, Makurdi, on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The governor based his support for Obi on the inability of the PDP and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to serve Nigerians.<\/p>\n
“This is not a celebration. I am not a member of the Labour Party, but I work for Peter Obi. Peter Obi will ensure that our eyes are closed while we sleep. “These senseless killings that are occurring in our country will cease,” stated Ortom.<\/p>\n
“Of the three presidential contenders, only Peter Obi possesses the integrity and qualifications to lead Nigeria.<\/p>\n
“In 2023, we must create a new Nigeria, one that provides equity, fairness, and justice to its citizens.”<\/p>\n
Ortom is part of a group of five PDP governors known as G-5 who are at odds with the party’s national leadership.<\/p>\n
According to sources, Ortom highlighted his dispute with George Akume, former governor of Benue and minister of special duties and intergovernmental relations, as his rationale for backing Obi during a meeting of the G5 governors.<\/p>\n
The disagreement between Ortom and Akume, an APC member, took on a new dimension in 2021, when Ortom accused President Muhammadu Buhari of attempting to “Fulanise” the country in response to Buhari’s approval of a committee’s proposals to review 368 grazing reserves in 25 states.<\/p>\n
Kelvins Dzeremo, a political analyst in Benue, told TheCable that Ortom’s endorsement is merely a reflection of the PDP’s turmoil and will increase the APC’s chances in the state.<\/p>\n
“According to the PDP’s political constitution, Ortom’s endorsement of a different presidential candidate constitutes anti-party action. According to the PDP’s constitution, I am aware that he can be expelled or suspended for his actions,” Dzeremo stated.<\/p>\n
“Ortom is a candidate for a senate seat for the PDP in Benue. Now he is running for national office on the platform of a party with a presidential nominee. And the election of the APC and PDP presidential candidates occurs on the same day that Ortom is running. I do not know how he will manage the divisions he has caused by sponsoring a candidate from a different party.<\/p>\n
“Therefore, the messier he becomes, the more favorable it is for the APC in Benue, particularly for Akume, with whom he has no relationship.”<\/p>\n
“It doesn’t matter to Akume or anyone else in the APC who he endorses or doesn’t endorse; the more discord, the better for the former governor.”<\/p>\n
However, Ortom has now obtained a court order prohibiting his expulsion from the PDP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The governor of Benue, Samuel Ortom, has endorsed Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, ahead of the upcoming election. Ortom, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), revealed the endorsement at a town hall meeting in the state capital, Makurdi, on Thursday. The governor based his support for Obi on the inability […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35,36],"tags":[147,106],"class_list":["post-898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics","tag-ortom","tag-peter-obi"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=898"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":900,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898\/revisions\/900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shakamomodu.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}