Former Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has said he will not join the All Progressives Congress (APC) because doing so would require him to work for the incumbent governor of the state, Hyacinth Alia, whom he accused of poor performance.
Ortom, however, declared that he would continue to support President Bola Tinubu’s presidential ambition in 2027 while remaining a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and backing the party’s governorship candidate in Benue State, Titus Uba.
The former governor stated this while speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, explaining his seemingly conflicting political positions ahead of the 2027 general elections.
According to him, his political decisions were based on the performance of individual leaders rather than strict party affiliation.
‘If I join APC now, you want me to work for Governor Alia? I will not do it. But the President is doing well. This is the difference of what some of you believe,’ Ortom said.
He said he remained a PDP member and acknowledged the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, as his national political leader, but maintained that he had no regrets supporting Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.
‘You will recall that in 2023 when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu made Wike Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, in his reception in Port Harcourt, even before Wike or any other member of the G5, I came out and said that we will support Tinubu because we know his antecedent and he can bring reforms that will transform this country,’ he said.
‘I have not changed. I’m seeing the same Samuel Ortom and I’m saying that I’m supporting Bola Ahmed Tinubu for president. But when it comes to governorship, because of the dismal performance of the current governor, I support PDP members.’
Ortom said his support for Tinubu was informed by what he described as the President’s economic and infrastructural reforms, including the removal of fuel subsidy and ongoing road and bridge projects in Benue.
He cited the Abuja-Makurdi-9th Mile road, a flyover in Makurdi and the bridge between Buruku and Gboko as examples of projects being undertaken by the Federal Government.
‘Today, in Nigeria, we’re having different reforms, reforms in security, reforms in several aspects of life in this country, and we are already seeing the result that they are positive,’ he said.
The former governor also criticised the Alia administration over the payment of salaries, pensions and gratuities, arguing that the increased revenue accruing to states should have enabled Benue to clear outstanding liabilities.
Ortom recalled that he inherited arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities when he assumed office in 2015, but said the situation should have improved under the present administration because of increased federal allocations to states.
He claimed that Benue remained the only state still struggling to clear such arrears, urging the state government to account for the resources it had received.
On the recent disruption of Peter Obi’s visit to Benue, Ortom condemned the incident, saying the Labour Party presidential candidate should have been allowed to visit the state and sympathise with victims of the recent attacks.
‘I condemn what happened yesterday. It is wrong not to allow Peter Obi to visit Benue and sympathise with those people whose people were killed. That is what he came here to do,’ he said.
Ortom also alleged that Governor Alia was involved in the incident, despite the state government’s denial and the police announcement that several suspects had been arrested.
He urged the police to conduct a thorough investigation and prosecute those found culpable, warning that failure to enforce the law could encourage citizens to resort to self-help.
‘I am happy I just heard from you that the police have said they arrested some people. They should do thorough investigation. But let it not be that innocent people were arrested, and at the end, nothing comes out of it,’ Ortom said.
He insisted that his political position was not contradictory, arguing that politicians should support leaders who perform well regardless of their party.
‘For me, politics should be about leadership. And leadership should be about delivering basic dividends of democracy,’ he said.