2023: Why PDP presidential aspirants are courting Ortom

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State seems to have become the beloved of his Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential aspirants

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State seems to have become the beloved of his Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential aspirants, going by the trend of recent developments.

 The latest visits by the party’s presidential aspirants to Benue Government House in Makurdi suggest to political observers that the governor might hold the ace and cannot be overlooked as far as who emerges the party’s presidential flag-bearer is concerned.

• Aspirants against zoning are selfish – Wike
• PDP: Stakeholders want zoning dumped as Ortom’s c’ttee adjourns sitting

First, it was the Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, who last Sunday arrived at the Food Basket of the Nation in the company of a former governor of Cross Rivers State Donald Duke, alongside his team to meet with Benue delegates for the forthcoming PDP national convention.

It was during the consultative meeting at the Government House in Makurdi that Wike declared his intention to contest for the country’s presidential seat in 2023 general elections.

Wike said Benue was his very first port of call in making his presidential intention public, stressing the need for the party to zone its ticket to the southern geopolitical region of the country.

“I have no problem whether the PDP wants to zone, but don’t allow evil people to ruin this country. Nobody from the South contested in 2019 when we zoned it to the North because we knew President Muhammadu Buhari was going for a second term.

“Even if we don’t zone, I have the capacity. Don’t make the mistake of not zoning; you will be killing the party. We need the unity of this country,” the Rivers governor said.

Interestingly, not quite 24 hours after the departure of Wike from the state, a former president of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki and his team surfaced in Makurdi, alongside two governors – Sokoto’s Aminu Tambuwal and Bauchi’s Bala Mohammed – to hold private discussions with Ortom in furtherance of their presidential ambitions.

Saraki, who addressed Governor Ortom on behalf of the trio, also said Benue was their first port of call after their formation. He disclosed that they decided to form a unity team mainly to enable them reach a consensus among themselves in the days ahead.

He stressed that they  took the initiative to work as a team without anybody forcing them to do so, adding that it became necessary because the country was too divided with men of personal interest, and that they were committed to ensuring that the PDP wins the 2023 presidential election.

Saraki had earlier visited the state on November 23,2021 over his 2023 presidential ambition, during which he held a closed door meeting with Governor Ortom and also met with members of the State Working Committee (SWC) of the party to familiarise them with his intention to kick-start consultations for his ambition to rule the country.

The ex-Senate president, who was accompanied on the visit by a former governor of Kogi State, Idris Wada, former national chairman of the PDP, Kawu Baraje, Senator Suleiman Adokwe and Prof Iyorwuese Hagher, chairman of Council, Saraki for President Campaign, thanked the Benue governor for standing out for the North-Central zone.

Saraki had gone through memory lane to recall how Benue was strategic to any meaningful accord or political transition in the country, citing instances with how the idea of the PDP itself was birthed in the state, with meaningful contributions from its indigenes.

Apart from these candidates, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president of Nigeria, had also visited on February 6 this year and had a closed door session with Ortom, which lasted about an hour.

Atiku, alongside his campaign team, who were received at the Government House in Makurdi by Governor Ortom, explained that he was unable to visit the state in its trying times occasioned by the invasion of suspected armed herders because he was out of the country for further studies. 

Before this time, Atiku’s campaign team had in November last year met with the party’s officials and stakeholders from the three senatorial districts of Benue State over the 2023 general elections in Makurdi.

Leader of the team, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, said they had come to Benue as a forerunner of Atiku to consult with the elders of the party in the state, and asked them for support for their principal, who will be contesting the presidential poll in 2023.

Observers, however, believe that the reasons behind this new found love in Ortom by his party’s presidential aspirants are not far-fetched, as firstly, Benue remains the only state governed by the PDP in the North-Central, and as such, has become a rallying point for the party’s activities in the zone.

The other states – Plateau, Nasarawa, Kwara, Niger and Kogi, which make up the North-Central zone,  are being governed by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Secondly, the appointment of Governor Ortom as the chairman of the PDP Committee on Zoning has made him a darling of the party’s presidential aspirants.

Also, political watchers think the role played by Ortom, as well as other leaders from Benue, in the emergence of the PDP national  chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, cannot be easily erased from the memories of the party’s presidential aspirants, who might just want him to pull such strings in their favour.

Similarly, Ortom’s outing on behalf of the PDP at the recently conducted council election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which led the party to winning three out of six area councils, was a feat to be reckoned with, amongst others.

On the other hand, Ortom’s outspoken nature had also greatly endeared him to the heart of many people, including PDP presidential aspirants, while there maybe those who hate his guts, both within and outside his party.

The manner in which he had confronted issues that most of his contemporaries would ordinarily shy away from, plus his ability to have severally called out the APC-led federal government over insecurity in the country, made him one of such leaders whom presidential aspirants would perhaps desire to support them. 

Although Ortom had prayed for all the presidential aspirants who visited him to achieve their dreams, he, however, leaned his opinion towards zoning the PDP ticket to the South.

 “On southern presidency I stand,” he had stated during Wike’s visit

Ortom, who explained that the party’s decision was supreme and would be upheld at the end of the day, further noted that for the sake of fairness, equity and justice, the presidency should be zoned to the South.

While praying for Wike to achieve his ambition, Ortom said his Rivers counterpart had never turned his back on Benue, especially in caring for the teeming displaced people occasioned by herders’ invasions in parts of the state.

It is no secret that Ortom and Wike are friends. Their friendship is remarkable, with the Benue unity cap adopted by Wike, who is also a Tiv traditional titleholder.

While they both have not hidden their criticism of the APC government at the centre for being unable to curtail escalating insecurity in different parts of the country, they had in the past few years visited each other’s state frequently to strengthen their ties.

In the meantime, Ortom himself is consulting with his people over his intention to contest for the Benue northwest senatorial seat presently occupied by Emmanuel Orker Jev, a lawyer.

He had officially made his intention known early in March when he sought the blessings of his kinsmen at a meeting with Nzorov people of Guma Local Government, comprising of traditional rulers and other leaders.

The governor had told his Nzorov brethren that he was convinced to contest the Senate seat on the platform of the PDP  and would require their support.

To this end, the elders from the Masev, Ihyarev and Nongov Development Association (MINDA), few days ago presented an expression of intent and nomination forms for Senate to Governor Ortom.

They said the purchase and presentation of the forms to the governor was in continuation of calls for him to contest for the senatorial seat in the 2023 general elections.

Ortom said his party was working hard to unseat the APC at the centre as posited by all the presidential aspirants who visited Benue State to solicit support from stakeholders.