Thirteen governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2019 elections in Benue State have kicked against the planned return of Governor Samuel Ortom to the party.
Addressing a press conference yesterday in Abuja, the aspirants said while they were not against the return of defectors, they were against the defection of people with negative values to the party.
Speaking under the auspices of Forum of Governorship Aspirants, they vowed to resist any attempt to truncate the internal democratic process that had thrived in the PDP chapter in the state.
One of the aspirants, John Tondu, argued that though politics was a game of numbers, Ortom had no electoral value to make the PDP the party to beat.
He said: “The governor of Benue State today is a liability, not an asset. He is not welcome.
“Because of the love we have for the people of Benue State, anything that will cripple our plan to take over the state should not be tolerated,” he said.
Echoing this sentiment was Dr. Terhemen Tarzoor, the state PDP governorship candidate in 2015 who alleged that Ortom’s credibility had reached an all-time low, having been shown the ‘red card’ by the APC.
The chairman of the forum, Professor David Ker, in his speech tasked the state chapter of the party to work in fidelity with its promise of free and fair primaries, noting that anything short of that would spell doom for the PDP.
“While we may not oppose any group or individuals from joining and participating in the affairs of the party in the state, we are strongly opposed to a purported unilateral decision to dissolve the executives of the party at all levels in the state to accommodate or give undue advantage to any group or person angling to join the party,” he said.
