No Regret on Atiku, No Interest in Coalition — Ortom

Former Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, says he has no regrets supporting a rival presidential candidate against his party’s flag bearer, Atiku Abubakar, during the 2023 general election.

“I did not hide Uchenna. I have no regret,” Ortom declared during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday night.

At the time, Ortom was part of the G5 governors, a group of five governors elected under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who publicly distanced themselves from Atiku’s candidacy and instead backed Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Dismissing criticisms that his actions amounted to disloyalty, the former governor defended his decision as one driven by principle and duty to his people.

“Which betrayal?” he asked pointedly. “Pursuing my interest and the interest of my people? The interest of my people is that you provide what they want.

“If you ask me, I would describe politics as a game of doing what your people want, not what I want.”

According to Ortom, loyalty to his people superseded party affiliation, especially when the issue at stake involved national fairness and balance.

“Politics is a game of interest, and if I have somebody working against my interest and the interest of my people, I have to fight back,” he said.

Citing the need for equity in Nigeria’s power rotation, Ortom questioned the attempt to retain power in the North after President Muhammadu Buhari, also a northerner, had served two terms.

“We were preaching equity, fairness and justice. How can you explain to me that a northern won the presidency for eight years and another northern, from the same ethnic group, will win the presidency for another four years or eight years, as the case may be? Our democracy has not gotten to that level.

“We said no; it is in the unwritten constitution that the North will do eight years and the South will do eight years. So, we believed in a southern presidency and not a northern presidency. That was why some of us supported a southern presidential aspirant.”

Rejects ADC-Led Coalition

Despite his internal disagreements with the PDP in 2023, Ortom affirmed that he has no plans to dump the party.

He said he remained committed to the PDP, even as some top political figures in Benue State, including David Mark and Gabriel Suswam, moved to unveil a new opposition coalition under the African Democratic Congress (ADC).

“People are free to join any coalition that they so wish, but for me, and the people that I lead, we remain in PDP. I’m the leader of PDP in Benue State and a member of the BoT.

“I am not joining any coalition. We have no business with that,” he said.

The former governor further questioned the future of the new opposition alliance, expressing doubt about its survival.

“I don’t see it surviving,” Ortom said. “In any case, even if they survive, if they are through with the litigation that is going on, they will be defeated hands down.”