‘You’re Better Off As Union Leader Than APC Chairman,’ Ortom Slams Oshiomhole

Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has slammed APC National Chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, for turning around to attack his person after previously showering praises on him before he dumped the ruling party.

Recall that on getting the wind of Governor Ortom’s plan to dump the APC for PDP, Oshiomhole had summoned the governor for a meeting where he discouraged him from leaving the ruling party.

After the meeting, the APC National Chairman described the governor as “a very very prominent member of our party. We appreciate his leadership in Benue and we will do everything possible to help those who have issues to have those issues resolved. Anything we would do, I would do,” insisting that “Governor Ortom is not going any where.”

Apparently not convinced of his political future with the APC, Ortom ignored the National Chairman’s counsel and dumped the ruling party for the PDP on Wednesday.

Reacting to the governor’s move despite his efforts to stop him, Oshiomhole told a gathering during a visit to Benue State that, “From the point of view of our leaders in Benue State, their position was clear. They believed that fielding Governor Ortom on the APC platform in the 2019 governorship election could only lead to electoral defeat for a number of reasons. They reminded us that in spite of the allocations accruing to the state and in spite of the bailout, amounting to over N20bn, which they had received in two instalments of N10bn each, and in addition to the huge sums of money that the state collected from the Paris Club Refund, Governor Ortom has not, and is not paying salaries to workers as and when due.”

During his visit, Oshiomhole was reportedly informed by APC leaders in the state that Governor Ortom should be blamed for mismanaging the Fulani herdsmen killings in Benue.

The APC National Chairman was said to have responded thus: “For any man of honour, if an appointee of government is involved in heinous crimes, including killing, that should be enough for a governor to worry,” adding that “Instead, Governor Ortom played up the ethnic dimension of criminality, whereas in truth, some of those who have been killed were not killed by Muslims; they were killed by Christians of Benue State origin, including those he employed.

Oshiomhole added that, “So, Ortom’s incapacity to manage it and even his willingness to seek to make political capital of the death of

Benue people is most unfortunate because I believe that even in politics, there should be a level of morality.”

Reacting however, Governor Ortom, through his Chief Press Secretary, Terver Akase, said Oshiomhole “needs to know the difference between party chairman and a union leader”.

The statement reads in part, “On the 19th of July, 2018, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole poured encomiums on Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom.

“Oshiomhole was addressing journalists at the party’s secretariat in Abuja shortly after his meeting with Governor Ortom whom he described as one of the star performers of the APC. He also described Governor Ortom as an honourable man. Comrade Oshiomhole went further to state that the party would do everything to keep the Benue State Governor within its fold like a highly valued diamond and not let him defect to another party.

“The APC National Chairman was right when he commended Governor Samuel Ortom over his performance in the last three years. Oshiomhole’s commendation of the Governor was in agreement with the unanimous endorsement the Benue State chapter of the APC gave him during its state congress recently.

“We were however shocked when, a few days later after Ortom’s defection from APC, we read Comrade Oshiomhole making a 180 degrees turn to launch verbal attacks on the Governor.

“The APC National Chairman’s sudden aggression towards Governor Ortom has revealed among other things, the true oppressive intentions of the ruling party APC against Nigerians. Oshiomhole appears to be flying a kite of an agenda to intimidate and suppress Nigerians who desire freedom from a party which has clearly failed to secure lives and property, thereby ushering in an orgy of violence never before witnessed in the history of the country.

“Adams Oshiomhole’s diatribe against Governor Ortom has also revealed the plot hatched by APC leaders within and outside Benue to throw the state into political crisis ahead of the 2019 elections.

“Comrade Oshiomhole ought to be telling Nigerians why they should vote for APC next year instead of embarking on a voyage of attacks on perceived opponents. His unprovoked attack on Governor Ortom and other members of the opposition has not translated to a single vote for the APC.

“A man of supposed high political stature like Oshiomhole should rather be out to court the sympathy of the very few key actors still left in the APC even in the face of unprecedented frustration by anomalies in the party instead of launching laughable verbal assaults on those who can no longer stand the strange happenings within the party. Insulting almost all those who have left due to the party’s inability to address their grievances would only convince those yet to make up their minds that they are truly in the wrong place.

“Oshiomhole appears to be in a hurry to justify his moniker as an ‘undertaker’ who has come to evacuate what is left of the once popular APC into oblivion as recently observed by the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party.

“We advise the embattled Chairman to get busy with the job of his office and minimize his divisive and hate-filled statements. As a former governor, Oshiomhole ought to be statesmanly in his utterances. As the Chairman of the ruling party, he ought to speak with decorum and caution, to market his party and its candidates to Nigerians and not try to whip political opponents into silence.

“Another thing that should occupy Comrade Oshiomhole’s mind at time is the suit filed against him by Bishop Osadolor Anthony Ochie, an Edo based cleric and rights activist, on account of corruption while he served as governor of Edo State. Oshiomhole does not possess the moral credentials to accuse other leaders of corruption.

“On his take regarding security votes, we wonder what Oshiomhole hoped to achieve with such an accusation? Governor Ortom has not done anything outside the laid down procedures in addressing security challenges by a state governor. As a former governor, Comrade Oshiomhole should know this better.

“On his allegation that the Governor’s aides are among those killing people in the state, it seems Oshiomhole is privy to the ongoing investigation of the suspects arrested in connection with the murder of two Catholic priests and 17 worshipers at Mbalom, Gwer East local government area of Benue State. With his jumping into conclusion that the suspects were sponsored by the Governor, our suspicion is that either the investigation into the matter has been compromised or the APC National Chairman is influencing it. Benue people know who their killers are, and the attackers are believed to be sponsored by Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and other Miyetti Allah groups.

“We advise the APC National Chairman to stop his shameful dance on the graves of innocent Benue children, pregnant women and others slaughtered by armed herdsmen.

“Governor Ortom won’t let APC’s latter day media attacks distract his administration from providing good governace to the people as he has been doing.

“Though the Benue State Governor has left APC, he appreciates the leadership and members of the party for recognising and appropriately praising him for his laudable achievements.

“We already alerted Nigerians, particularly the people of Benue State that these attacks on Governor Ortom will surely come from enemies of the state.”