By Titus Foga
We read on the social media the promotion by one Joe Igbokwe of a injudicious opinion he copied from one Kurtis Adigba who said Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue state will lose his seat if his colleague in Ebonyi state, David Nweze Umahi’s sack by the court is upheld.
Igbokwe, I learnt is the Senior Special Assistant on Drainages in Lagos state.
That is why it baffles me why a supposed enlightened public persona in a metropolitan state like Lagos will choose to align on an ignoble adventure of promoting misinformation cooked by someone who obviously lacks knowledge of what is happening in the body polity of this nation.
Of course, keeping quiet on such calculated fabrication is certainly a disservice to unsuspected members of the public and most especially, fans of a very popular, dodged and performing Governor of Benue state, Samuel Ortom, hence the need to put records straight.
Let it be known to Adigba and Igbokwe that Governor Samuel Ortom was re-elected for a fresh mandate as Governor of the Food Basket state in 2019 on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party.
In clarity, Governor Ortom dumped the All Progressives Congress APC on whose platform he won his first term in office as Governor in 2018. He legally went through all the legitimate processes set up by the People’s Democratic Party PDP constitution/guidelines, INEC guidelines and the 1999 constitution of the FRN as amended to obtain his ticket before going ahead to win the gubernatorial polls in 2019. This is to say that Ortom cannot be lumped in the same camp with what has befallen Governor Umahi.
Therefore, if Adigba whose misguided opinion Igbokwe is impulsively promoting is a follower of political developments in the country, he would have known that Ortom won his election in 2019 under PDP and has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with APC because of his popularity in Benue and this country.
This outing by Adigba and Igbokwe is obviously an absolute chimera. Whosoever sent them on this contemptible outing be reminded that Ortom’s second term mandate is firmly planted on the platform of PDP and has no links with the leprous APC.
This is to say that Governor Ortom did not offend any known legal procedure to become Governor. If he did, the many tricks to oust him by the Fulani cabal would have succeeded. That is why, at the moment, he is so busy delivering good governance to the people of Benue state.
It is instructive to advise detractors cooking up such falsehood targeted at Governor Ortom to distract him that it won’t fly. Let me advise APC apologists looking for others to mourn with them should look elsewhere because this Benue Governor has moved. His eyes are already fixed at winning the 2023 polls for his party, the PDP.
Foga is a Public Affairs Analyst and writes from Makurdi, Benue State