Anti-open grazing law: APC plots against Ortom’s second term bid

Some forces within the All Progressives Congress in Benue State are reportedly planning to use the anti-open grazing law enacted by the state governor, Samuel Ortom, to scuttle his second term ambition.

Sunday Tribune gathered that the ruling party is already shopping for a new candidate for the 2019  governorship election.

Consequently, Ortom was said to be considering other options, as sources revealed that he may dump the party to realise his second term ambition

Sources told our correspondent that the governor may like reach out to  the Social Democratic Party (SDP) as some of his loyalists had strategically positioned themselves for the governor’s next move.

Another source also told our correspondent that the main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) was mounting pressure on him to return to the fold.

“There are strong forces ‘from the top’ who are ready to stop Governor Ortom from being the party’s standard-bearer in the coming election.

“This is the truth of the matter; the forces see Ortom as a hard nut to crack, given his stance on the anti-open grazing law as their reason.”

“The law is the people’s law, but is it a bad thing for an elected governor to stand up for his people? We have been advising him (Ortom) to seek an alternative platform for his second term aspiration. With was is happening now, the coast is getting clearer than before,” a close source to Ortom said.

In his reaction to the development, APC’s state  chairman, Abba Yaro debunked the rumour doing the rounds that Ortom had concluded plans to dump the party, saying “Ortom is going nowhere. Ignore that rumour,” Yaro said.

Meanwhile some indigenes have passed a vote of confidence in the governor.

According to the spokesman for the group, Chief Edward Ujege, they will support the governor’s second term bid because he stands by his people when suspected Fulani herdsmen waged a war against the state over the anti-open grazing law passed by the governor.

“In the face of apparent persecution and lacklustre response from the centre, which ought to provide us security, our governor has chosen to stand with his people and we also stand with him.

“He’s sacrificing his life and political comfort to ensure that the wishes of the people on whose mandate he became the governor of the state prevailed,” the group maintained.