…Benue Governor yet to quit APC, says Oshiomhole
Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, on Monday declared that he has been given a “red card” by his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he was now floating and awaiting any party to admit him.
“As for party, I have been given red card and I’m outside the pitch. So, if I have been given red card and I’m standing outside, I’m a free man,” Ortom said at the inauguration of a Special Adviser to Bureau of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Jerome Torshimbe.
“So, I don’t know what will happen next; but I’m waiting. If approached, then I will tell the Benue people that I’m joining another football club.
“I’m a child of destiny and it’s only God that will decide what I will be,” Ortom said.
The governor, who decried the challenges facing the state, enjoined the people to be united so that development would come to the state.
“Many people have been wondering that though we dedicated the state to God, we are still facing challenges; but all these challenges that we see today, we shall see them no more.
“All that we are required to do is not to begin to be wayward in our conduct, but to move to the righteous side of God. Once we do that, things will work out for our good.
“Looking at what is happening to us, sometimes I’m tempted to think that we are dying like people who do not have God. But we must choose the path of walking with God, obeying and serving him.
“If we do that and ensure that His values get into our hearts and we work with him, development will be inevitable. Let us work and encourage those things that can develop us.
” We need to come together and not allow party or ethnicity to divide us.”
Meanwhile, Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, has described the alleged exit of the governor of Benue state, Samuel Ortom, from the party as a rumour.
Reacting to what the party called speculation, on Monday in Abuja, Oshiomhole said the party had a cordial relationship with Ortom.
He spoke to newsmen after a closed door meeting with members of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC).
“I know that Governor Ortom is a very senior member of the party and he has said so repeatedly in print and has said to me one on one that he will not leave the APC unless he was pushed out.
“Since I assumed the chairmanship of this party along with my colleagues in the NWC, I know of a fact, that we have not shut out any governor and certainly not Governor Ortom.
“And in these days of social media, I will not be responding on the basis of rumor and unverified reports,” the APC chairman said.
On the party’s victory at the just concluded Ekiti governorship election, Oshiomhole said the APC was excited not because it won the election, but particularly with the process.
“We just want to make sure that the results of the election reflect the will of the people.
“You will also recall that there were issues about police deployment.
“I am very happy that all the commentators and observes including the European Union are happy that the election was free of violence and that the process was free and fair.
“We cannot ask for more, we celebrate not just the fact that we won, we celebrate that under President Muhammadu Buhari’s government, we now can see that election can be conducted without people being hospitalised,” he said.
He said party was very proud of its accomplishment at the election and had asked Dr Kayode Fayemi the governor-elect to reflect on all that should be reflected on so before he was sworn in.
He added that Ekiti people could not afford to wait any longer to see a renewed and refocused leadership that would ensure the quality of life of the people.
He further added that the party’s leadership had appealed to Fayemi to see the wisdom to carry along various shades of opinion and also to reach out to the opposition.
“Infact, democracy works well regardless of who wins. If the winner governs well for the benefit of all, indeed, the people can never lose in a democracy.
“And we trust that Fayemi will do all that, including addressing the huge liability,” the APC National Chairman stressed.
