If the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom had cleared the backlog of salaries and pensions, did not unjustly remove many Benue Civil servants’ name from the payroll, had used the bailout funds, Paris Club refund, FG allocations, IGR and all the loans he collected among other funds he got to also execute projects and touch the lives of countless Benue people, he would not have been on the “hot seat” he has found himself today.
If he had done all these, the good people of Benue State would not care about the political party he defected to and would have overwhelmingly given him their unswerving support and be sincerely prepared to vote for him in 2019 to be re-elected in his second term as the governor of Benue State.
When Governor Ortom was in APC, he did and said many horrible things not just against former governor Gabriel Suswam but also against the PDP he has finally found himself in as a “political redemption camp” for him. To make matters worse, his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Terver Akase, rubbished PDP and wrote series of articles and made short posts against PDP and also in attack of the Benue State PDP publicity secretary (PRO), Mr. Bemgba Iortyom. Iortyom through his numerous articles and short posts exposed the abysmal failure of Ortom and Akase in making the desired impact. I read all the articles and posts made by them all.
Now that Ortom is back to the party he once despise, so many people who were in PDP before he defeated to join them are not sincerely willing to work for him. Some of them have already started plotting his defeat ahead of 2019 election. Most of those who defected with him from APC to PDP did that not because they support him, but because they want to maintain their respective positions but their loyalty and trust is not in Ortom and PDP. So when the election in 2019 comes, they will know what to do.
Most of those giving Ortom votes of confidence and support to be re-elected such as the Sankara youths and elders, Vandeikya, Konshisha, MINDA, including some pastors, Rev. Fathers among others are just saying so to make Ortom happy and maybe he can do a couple of things for them. Most of them will not vote for him come 2019 election.
Why some PDP heavyweights have not left the party is because they are waiting for the primaries to be conducted. If anybody doubts me they will see what will happen. By the time PDP conducts its primaries and some are denied the tickets or their “boys” denied the tickets, they will defect to APC as a way of also expressing their unhappiness and will move with their supporters and ensure that Ortom and PDP fail.
With all the terrible things Ortom did to Suswam and his property he seized, Suswam has not yet sincerely forgiven Ortom. Although he has not said much lately, it is believed that he is working out certain things which will be known in the not-too-far near future.
When Suswam fought against Akume politically in 2010 till his re-election in 2011 to the completion of his second term in 2015, Suswam went through hell even as the incumbent governor who had the support of then President Goodluck Jonathan, Senate President, David Mark and a host of other influencial politicians. If Suswam who is more politically strong and intellectually sound than Ortom could not fight Akume and win, then Ortom is standing on a sinking ground against Akume.
Ortom has no support from the Presidency so the influence the presidency always has in a state for their candidates is out of Ortom’s reach and this will also affect him.
If with all these odds against Ortom and he miraculously emerges winner in his gubernatorial re-election in 2019, I will forever respect him and will never again criticize him or write any article against him no matter how horrible his government might be as a honour to him for breaking through all these barriers and pushing against all odds to emerge victoriously.
By Terfa Naswem