In yet another twist of events, G14, elders and stakeholders of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Benue State have again vehemently rejected another choice preferred by Governor Samuel Ortom for the 2023 general election.
This is coming barely a few days after the same PDP elders and stakeholders in unequivocal terms rejected two of the governor’s earlier preferred aspirants.
Pundits have revealed that Governor Ortom a night ago put forward the name of the Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Titus Uba for consideration as his possible successor.
READ ALSO: http://Bandits storm Abuja community, conduct house-to-house raid
However, it was gathered that, the choice of Hon. Uba also met stiff resistance just like that of the former Chief of Staff, Hon. Terwase Orbunde and former Commissioner for Education, Prof. Dennis Ityavyar.
The elders and stakeholders adduced that the speaker is unsellable and a “serial wife-beater and a man of many infidelities”. They argued that a man who has no home will not be allowed to govern over a cosmopolitan state like Benue. They argued further that even the Catholic Church in the state has refused to wed him (Speaker Uba).
According to them: “the man who was constantly sleeping with the wife of a university don (name withheld) and beating his own wife constantly has brought shame to himself and the legislative arm of government, therefore we can’t agree with the governor on his choice.”
“We rejected Prof. Ityavyar who failed as chairman of the Economic Team in the first tenure of Ortom and only attracted a plethora of MoUs and extortion of students for the payment of scholarship forms without payment and superintendent over deductions of salaries of teachers same way we rejected Orbunde who is out of zoning and was also accused of being a member of the ill-fated Economic Team as well as failed to provide purposeful direction to all staff of the governor.” They argued.
They also accused the governor of preferring a “failed speaker” who only approves loans to the governor. One of the members of G14 who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, only recently the speaker forced the house to approve a loan request nearing N20 billion to the governor.
READ ALSO: http://Let NASS benefit from your research studies, Senate President tells NIPSS
PDP elders and stakeholders said they’re not particularly against the governor but simply not comfortable with his choices who they strongly believe if fielded will make the party lose woefully the 2023 gubernatorial election in the state.
According to them, at this point, the governor and other leaders of the party should be more concerned about a generally acceptable candidate without blemish rather than looking at personal, mundane and parochial interests.
Meanwhile the trio of Hon. Orbunde, Prof. Ityavyar and the former governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Terver Akase have all accepted their fate by respecting the decision of G14, elders and stakeholders holders over their outright rejections. Hon. Orbunde and Akase have since issued separate press statements in acceptance of the will of God and party for the decision even though it didn’t favour them.
However, G14, elders and stakeholders of PDP in the state appreciated the Governor for heeding to the voice of reasoning by allowing the party to zone its governorship to the Jechira bloc in Zone A axis of the state. They also appealed to him to allow the same voice of reasoning to prevail by jettisoning the choice of a Hon. Titus Uba “serial wife-beater and man of many infidelities”.