THE recent announcement by the immediate past governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, declaring that he and the other four members of the group of five PDP governors who backed President Bola Tinubu’s election in 2023 would support his reelection in 2027 is causing unease among them.
Ortom said last Sunday at a luncheon hosted by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, that the group had decided to back Tinubu for another term after the present one.
Ortom declared at the event: “Our leader, Nyesom Wike, has already made a declaration that in 2027, we are supporting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We have nowhere to go because that is what Nigerians believe. Even the past administration that took Nigeria from top to bottom, we allowed them to work for eight years. So, why can’t a seasoned administrator in the person of President Bola Tinubu rule us for eight years?”
A credible source close to two of the governors, however, told Saturday Tribune on Friday that Ortom had no authority to say what he said on behalf of his colleagues “and he has been told so.”
The G5 includes Ortom, Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) and Seyi Makinde (Oyo). Apart from Makinde, who is now in his second term, all the others have finished their terms as governor. Also, apart from Wike, who was made minister by Tinubu, the other three ex-governors, including Ortom, are yet to secure a job from the president.
Observers saw Ortom’s statement as a “cheap ploy” to invite the president’s attention to the group for patronage.
The source, who is a political aide to one of the G5 members, said: “I know of two members of the G5 who were shocked to hear what Ortom said. They feel that apart from his statement being clearly premature and capable of distracting the president, who is barely six months in office, Ortom also did not seek the opinions of the other members of the group before saying what he said in Port Harcourt.
“There was no reason for that declaration and there shouldn’t until the president himself expresses his ambition to seek a second term. There was an election last year. The next election is in 2027, more than three years away. No serious politician would open that issue for debate in January 2024.
“More importantly, I do not know what gave him the impression that the G5 has not finished its mission which was to support Tinubu and ensure power shift to the South. That has been achieved and the stage we are in now is implementation of the programmes and policies which the president promised the people.
“Ortom’s statement was capable of encouraging self-seeking politicians to join the chorus which will definitely hurt the new government. He should not have made that statement which created the impression that members of the group were power hustlers.”
The source, who begged not to be named because it was an issue which he was not authorised to speak on, asked Nigerians to ignore Ortom and his premature second-term campaign for the incumbent president, stressing that “President Bola Tinubu is experienced enough to see Ortom’s statement as a mere political gimmick to curry favour.”
Meanwhile, a group known as the Benue PDP Foundation Group has called for the suspension of Ortom from the party.
The group hinged its call on alleged anti-party activities of the governor in the build-up to the 2023 general election and his recent statement in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The group also warned members of the State Working Committee of the party to wield the big stick on the former governor or be ready to have the committee dissolved by the National Working Committee of the party.
Coordinator of the group, Michael Aberagi, made the call at a press conference in Makurdi on Thursday evening.
He said: “After the national convention of the PDP which produced a presidential candidate of the party for the 2023 elections, Chief Ortom joined forces with others to work against the candidate of the party and went ahead to adopt the candidature of Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) and directed many of his followers to vote for him.
“Recently, H.E., Samuel Ortom, at an event in Rivers State openly declared support for President Ahmed Tinubu’s 2027 presidential second term.
“We view these anti-party activities of H.E. Samuel Ortom as the proverbial acts of the man who, after eating, breaks the dishes used to serve the food so that no other person benefits from them.
“Failure of the organs of the party at both the state and national levels to do the needful as requested above, the entire membership of the party in the state shall be mobilised to save the party.”
But in a swift response, the state Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Bemgba Iortyom, described the group as faceless and one that should not be reckoned with.
Iortyom said: “In response to the purported call by a certain group that the party should suspend the immediate past governor of the state who is also the leader of the party in the state, Chief Samuel Ortom, ordinarily, we wouldn’t dignify such an outing with a response but for the fact the person being mentioned happens to be our leader, we make bold to say that the group does not exist within the knowledge of the PDP in the state. We do not know them.
“We are not aware of the existence of such a group. We have a number of groups that have aligned with the party and we know their members and leadership and we cooperate in areas of interest. This one does not exist to our knowledge.
“We call on the general public to disregard the action of the group. If it were a genuine group, they would have followed a proper channel or laid down procedures but such has not been done. There is a due process but there have not been any complaints here at the secretariat.
“We also serve a note of caution to whoever is behind the pseudo group to come before the party to lay their grievances if such person or persons have any. Come before the party and lay your complaints and the party will look into them.”
The PDP Publicity Secretary acknowledged that the party had misfortunes at the 2023 general election, but explained that “immediately after the elections, the leaders of the party have met and identified areas of shortcomings at the last elections, where they need to make amends and the process of reformation, restructuring has been consistent.”
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