LAGOS, Nigeria — Samuel Ortom, the immediate past governor of Benue State, has fired back at former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar for his claims that key stakeholders rejected him in the recent presidential election.
Ortom suggested that Atiku, who was the Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (PDP) 2023 presidential candidate, should be more concerned about why he was rejected.
Ortom’s comments came in response to Atiku’s statement that the G-5 group, made up of five high-profile PDP members, allegedly worked against his presidential bid due to ongoing corruption cases at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Atiku also alleged these individuals were being protected by President Bola Tinubu.
In a sharp rebuttal through his media aide, Terver Akase, on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, Ortom suggested that Atiku’s complaints reflected poorly on his candidacy.
“Alhaji Atiku Abubakar ought to be worried more that he has gone into history as the first presidential candidate of a leading political party to be rejected by key stakeholders including five sitting Governors and many other members of his party,” said Ortom.
Ortom explained that the G-5 and other members of the Integrity Group rejected Atiku’s candidacy due to their stance for “justice, equity, and fairness,” insisting that the 2023 presidency should be allocated to the southern part of the country.
He further suggested that Atiku was frustrated with Ortom and the G-5 for refusing to be used to circumvent the will of Nigerians.
He also linked Atiku’s verbal attack to Ortom’s anti-open grazing stance, noting that Atiku had expressed bitterness towards him for enacting a law that prohibited open grazing of livestock in the state.
“The former Vice President’s diatribe against Chief Ortom can therefore be understood as the manifestation of frustration for losing the 2023 election,” Ortom’s statement read, concluding that Atiku’s failure to unite the PDP and his accusations of corruption demonstrated a lack of moral ground.
