Presidential Election: Ortom Says He Won’t Impose Candidate on Citizens

The Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom has said he won’t impose his preferred presidential candidate on members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.

This was contained in a statement on Tuesday by his media aide, Terver Akase.

The governor also stated that he has not endorsed Atiku Abubakar, the nominee of his party, in contrast to a widely circulated report. He was reported to have expressed support for Abubakar’s presidential bid in a meeting with PDP stakeholders in Benue on Monday.

According to Ortom, the report was intended to discredit the five PDP governors collectively known as the G5 because they “had chosen the route of justice, fairness, and equity.”

“When the Governor met with the expanded state caucus of PDP yesterday January 9, 2023, at the Benue Peoples House, Makurdi, his message to them was crystal clear that the national leadership of PDP has failed to utilize its internal conflict resolution mechanism which has led to the crisis rocking the party,” the statement read.

“The Governor said during the meeting that if the crisis is not resolved before the elections, he would be left with no other option than to take a stand on the matter.

“He (Ortom) added however that he wouldn’t impose his decision on members of the party in the state.”

Earlier, the  G5 governors had said they will soon announce their preferred choice of presidential candidate for the February 25 election in Nigeria.

Recall that they had distanced themselves from the presidential campaign of the party after Ayu had refused to step down as the chairman of the party.

The G-5 argued that the party’s presidential candidate and national chairman cannot be from the same region.