‘Ignore G-5 complaints, lose 2023 presidential election’, Ortom tells PDP

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has warned the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the party would lose the 2023 presidential election if it continues to ignore the complaints and demands put forward by the five ‘recalcitrant’ governors elected on the platform of the party, now popularly called ‘G-5’ led by Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.

Governor Ortom who spoke at the inauguration of the State PDP Campaign Council and Campaign Management Committee at the party’s state secretariat in Makurdi on Tuesday, said it would be impossible for the PDP to win the presidency if it continues to call the bluff of the Wike-led G-5.

“It is not possible for us as a party to move forward without resolving the issues that I and my other colleagues are raising. These are the issues creating some challenges in the PDP. We must therefore come together as a team and work to resolve them,” Ortom said.

“I want to assure you and all Nigerians that if our PDP Presidential candidate is able to come out in sincerity and open up and resolve those issues, we shall work together. I am in PDP and I am working for the PDP and all our candidates from bottom to top.

“I have said before and I will say again, but where a particular candidate said that Benue votes did not matter, Ortom did not matter, the Governor of Benue State did not matter, the leader of the party in Benue State did not matter, that is where we will have issues.

READ ALSO:‘You lack the power to stop Ortom, others from 2023 elections,’ Wike dares Ayu

“But we do not have issues with the candidates of the party. And so I call on the national leadership of the party to rise to its responsibility and listen to the voice of reason and deploy its conflict resolution mechanism and resolve all the issues so that we can work as a team as we move into 2023.

“Those people who say that five Governors do not matter, I disagree with them. It is impossible for PDP to win an election in this kind of massive conflict that we have in our party and most of these Governors that we are talking about, they are PDP States who won election including Benue State for the PDP. So there is no way you can dismiss the issues that are being raised by the five Governors.

“For all that I and my colleagues stand for, let there be a committee of the whole house to look at these issues and discuss frankly and resolve them amicably, if not there will be a challenge.

“The national leadership of the party should rise up to their responsibility and address these issues and deploy its internal conflict resolution mechanism to solve those problems.

“But for us in Benue State here, we have no issue, we have all said it, the candidates have said it. We are PDP, Benue State is PDP, but if the issues that the five Governors are raising are not resolved, I cannot guarantee what will happen at the national level. But I want my party to win and this is all that I have to say,” he stated.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now