Convinced that the prospects of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), might have improved up after it won the governorship election in Osun State, last weekend, the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has said his colleagues in Rivers and Oyo states, Nyesom Wike and Seyi Makinde, as well as himself, have agreed to remain in the party.
Some governors and chieftains of the party loyal to Wike, had been engaged in cold war with the leadership of the party, after Wike was denied the vice-presidential position in spite of committee’s recommendation, weeks after losing the presidential ticket to former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar.
Ortom, while featuring on ARISE News Channel on Thursday, revealed that the trio had, decided against leaving PDP, but insisted that there was a need for the leadership of the party and Atiku to pacify Wike.
He further clarified that Wike, Makinde and himself did not attend the PDP mega rally in Osun, because they were out of the country and not because they were contemplating leaving the party.
Ortom noted that what happened in the Osun State governorship election, won by candidate of the PDP, Senator Ademola Adeleke, was what would happen in the 2023 elections.
The Benue governor, who also hinted that Atiku reached out to him speak to Wike in collective interest, stressed that Nigerians were fed up with excuses over security, economy and their social life that could have added value to humanity.
His words: “Coming to why some of us were absent, I was not around, I travelled. This was a programme that was planned over three months ago. I had to go to the United Kingdom, I had to go to the United States of America.
“I actually met with Governor Wike in London and met with my brother, the Governor of Oyo State, Makinde, and the Governor of Abia state. That provided an opportunity to brainstorm on what was happening back home in our party, the PDP especially.
“One thing I want to assure you and Nigerians is that we are not going to defect to any political party; we’re members of PDP. Wike in particular, has been very instrumental to the growth of our party in the absence of any former president produced by our great party.
“President Olusegun Obasanjo was produced by this party, you are aware that President Goodluck Jonathan also have issues and he decided not to get involved with what is happening in the party.
“So, Wike was the anchorman. We discussed this matter in our meeting in London and we all agreed we are not leaving the party. But let there be due process and the need to ensure that everybody is carried along.
“You are aware that since the emergence of PDP in Nigeria, Wike has been there, even some of us, because of the injustice meted out to us in 2016, we left for APC, until when APC started dancing in the wrong direction, we left back to PDP. And who was instrumental to me coming back, it was Wike.
“Our presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar too, at a point including our National Chairman today, we left for other parties, but Wike remained in this party. So, it is a big factor. I have always said that power belongs to God. Wike contested, some of us believed in southern presidency and Wike we thought he was the right person to get the ticket, he did not get
“The issue of vice-president comes, I want to tell you that I was one of the people that was able to convince Wike that half a loaf is better than none, you wanted to be president but, God did not make it possible. There is nothing wrong in asking to be the vice-president. Unfortunately, this did not work. I have explained what transpired the last time,” he explained.
Ortom insisted that the leadership of the party needed to do the needful by reaching out to Wike immediately to pacify him, adding that there was a need for everybody to come together to rescue the country.
“We are still members of PDP; we are working together and we look forward that the leadership will do the needful to bring all of us together. Our presidential candidate has reached out to me to also further persuade Governor Wike that he’s coming to see him. They will sit down together and discuss. For me, that is the end of it.
“I took my time, because at a time, I was not very clear about the happenings and I went into hibernation, but I am out now. And my decision is that, let our presidential candidate discuss with Wike and once there is an agreement on what to do to move forward, we can work on that.
“Because I don’t like betraying people, Wike stood with me at my worst time in the history of my life, when my state was under siege. He did everything including financial support to help the internally displaced people, who have been suffering. Visited with a team of stakeholders from Rivers State.
“The Bible says if somebody does something to you that is good, don’t reward him with evil, if you do that, evil will never depart from your house. I’m a student of the Bible; I’m a Christian and I don’t want God to hold me responsible for being irresponsible,” he said.
Ortom was of the opinion that working together with Wike, the main opposition party, would achieve a better result.
He said, “I believe our presidential candidate will work with Wike, once they discuss, he’s pacified, I will be pacified. I may not be speaking for my other colleagues whom we are working together. But in our meeting, we agreed that our brother, Governor Wike needed to be pacified and once that is done, all of us will team up together.
“Now, we don’t know where we are. We have been dropped from top to bottom. My worry is not just being at the bottom, we are going beneath the bottom. So, we need everybody to come together to see how we can rescue our country, Nigeria.”
Addressing issues of salaries and pensions, he said: “When I came in, I inherited arrears of pensions and salaries of over N70 billion, but I have depleted that to 30 billion naira now from 2015 to date. On salaries, the challenge is not only with my state, more than 20 states are finding it difficult to pay salaries as it stands now, and this is as a result of poor allocation from the federation account due to non-remittance from the NNPC.”
Chuks Okocha, Adedayo Akinwale, Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja and Numeh Ekeghe in Lagos
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