The immediate past governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom has explained why he and other members of the G5 Governors’ Forum opposed the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the 2023 elections.
Ortom, a leading member of the G5 group of PDP governors, said the party’s ‘failure to respect equity, fairness, and justice’ was the reason they chose to stand against it.
Speaking on Arise TV, yesterday, July 17, Ortom said the G5 had insisted that the presidency should shift to the South after eight years of Northern rule under President Muhammadu Buhari, but the PDP’s decision to field Atiku, also a Northerner, went against that principle.
Ortom said: “I acted as I did because we had expected the PDP to uphold equity, fairness, and justice, values I hold dear.
“When the majority of PDP members supported a Northern candidate, we deemed it unjust. We’ve always stood for equity, fairness, and justice, and we felt the presidency should alternate between the North and South for eight years each.”
As chairman of the PDP’s zoning committee, Ortom noted that although the committee recommended an open contest, he personally pushed for a Southern candidate.
He said the party’s National Executive Committee, NEC, had the final say, which led to Atiku’s candidacy.
“I presented the committee’s report as it was, and the NEC made the final call. I couldn’t override the collective decision,” Ortom explained.
On the role of Nyesom Wike, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, in the crisis, Ortom said, “We fought for Wike to be the PDP’s presidential candidate, but unfortunately, he didn’t secure the nomination. We also believed he should have been the running mate. I was part of the 20-member committee tasked with selecting a running mate, and 16 of us supported Wike. However, the candidate and the party leadership decided otherwise.”
