New Telegraph

Ortom: PDP govs defecting to APC ‘re afraid of EFCC

…scores APC below average in performance

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, yesterday, bruised some of his colleagues in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that have defected to the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) saying they took the decision to avoid being prosecuted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) after leaving office. Governor Benedict Ayade of Cross River State is one of the PDP governors who recently dumped the PDP for the APC, while former Ondo State governor, Olusegun Mimiko is reported to also join soon.

Governor Ortom said their defections have nothing to do with the strength and general support the PDP has garnered, ex-pressing optimism that the party will spring surprise to Nigerians in 2023. Governor Ortom spoke to journalists at the Makurdi Airport shortly after he returned from Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on an official visit.

The governor said the defecting governors are simply being blindfolded by what former APC National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole once said that “if you defect to APC, your sins are forgiven”, expressing optimism that there will be hiding place for any criminal or thief even after the President Mohammadu Buhari’s administration.

“I have been in this game for more than 40 years so you always see those dramas. Some people (governors) are afraid of EFCC, that’s why they are decamping to APC because Adams Oshiomhole once said ‘if you defect to APC, your sins are forgiven’. Some of us refused to do this kangaroo forgiveness of sins and I have always told my people to do the right thing. “So, some governors, it is because they are afraid of prosecution, that is why they are running to APC; but there is no hiding place for any criminal or thief, that’s the truth. “All this eye service you are seeing happening around, one day, when the day of reckoning comes, nobody will stop the authorities from fishing out whoever has committed crime in this country.

“That is why I have always said that prevention is better than cure. Me, I better go back to my village as a farmer than getting myself involved in that kind of thing, and that’s why I try myself to be decent in handling finances”. Governor Ortom, who said PDP governors are not perturbed by the gale of defection of their colleagues, expressed optimism that they will all make U-turn back to the PDP.

He said that the APC-led government at the center has grounded all sectors of the economy, a development, he said, has given rise to the worsening insecurity challenges. “How much was the dollar and what was the security situation in Nigeria, what was the economic status, employment rate and all other sectors in 2015? “If you sit down and do a thorough analysis of what used to be and where we are now, the mark you are going to give to APC is below average,” said Ortom.

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