New Telegraph

Ortom: I’ve no plans to dump PDP for APC

…you’re flying a kite, says Benue opposition

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, yesterday said he has no intention of defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The governor was reacting to comments by the state Chairman of APC, Abba Yaro, during the defection of former National Chairman of the PDP, Senator Barnabas Gemade from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to the APC that the governor would also soon return to the party.
Ortom said in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Terver Akase that; “He is not contemplating leaving PDP for whatever reason.
“The governor believes that the political, economic and security challenges currently facing the country cannot merely be solved by people decamping from one political party to another.
“He said what is most important at this point is for Nigerians in all works of life to join hands and surmount the challenges confronting the nation.
“Governor Ortom is comfortably leading the PDP in Benue State to achieve development milestones for the people and he remains focused on the mandate of providing good governance to all parts of the state.”
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state yesterday said Governor Ortom was only ‘flying a kite to gauge public opinion’ over his rebuttal that he was making plans to return to the party.
Governor Ortom had flayed comments by the state Chairman of the APC, Abba Yaro, over the possibility of re-joining his former party, APC, ahead of the 2023 general election if he was serious about achieving his future political dreams.
But the APC in a statement by its state Acting Publicity Secretary, Mr. James Ornguga, said the governor’s rebuttal held no water as he only “revived memories of his defection to PDP in 2018.
Ornguga said Ortom was known overtime for ‘anti-clockwise statements,’ which oftentimes negate his actual actions.
According to Ornguga, Yaro while speaking at Chief Gemade’s decamping ceremony only declared that “with the return of Gemade, former Speaker, Yakubu Dogora and other top politicians who left the APC before the 2019 general election, it was possible that the Benue State governor may also follow them to where all Nigerians are heading to”.
He said the conditional statement from the APC state chairman was not an outright announcement of Ortom’s defection plans as misconstrued.
He said APC in the state was safe under its leader, Senator George Akume and Yaro as it had effectively initiated a rebuilding process towards winning the 2023 elections.
Ornguga urged people of the state to be wary of the governor, who he said “may indirectly be flying a kite to gauge public opinion regarding the governor’s next plan of action.”

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