Benue State governor, Samuel Ortom, last Monday, took over the mantle of leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party in the state.
In the new development, Governor Ortom would fill the seven vacant positions the new order had created, while the occupants of the positions would be given appointments in government.
But the governor’s emergence as the leader of the party came to some governorship aspirants on the platform of the party as a surprise, having resisted his return into the party. Consequently, report indicates that an unspecified number of the aspirants have decided to drop their ambitions. Twelve governorship aspirants had, in the build-up to Ortom’s defection, protested to the national secretariat of the PDP against the governor returning to the party, declaring that his joining the PDP could spell doom for the party in the state.
The governor had prior to his joining the PDP, canvassed a 60/40 per cent arrangement in the control of the party structure, a proposal the aspirants resisted vehemently. This, according to some of the aspirants, would amount to given undue preference to the governor. For instance, the party’s gubernatorial candidate in the 2015 general election, Terhemen Tarzoor, in an interview, had said: “We will resist that with the last drop of our blood and I can tell you that we can lead a movement to resist that, because failure to redress from imposition will spell doom for the PDP. It is either we get it right or it breaks us.
“So, the issue of bringing a sitting governor and imposing him on us is not even there. Let the governor come and labour for the delegates with other governorship aspirants. But if you say go and adopt him, thank God, the court is there and it is the hope of common man. So, if we are treated as commoners, then we will show our nuisance value to the party and then see how it goes,” Tarzoor had said.
However, in the wisdom of the national leadership of the party, it referred the process of integrating the old and new members to the state chapter of the party to the elders last Monday, with the matter resolved in favour of Governor Ortom.
Announcing the handover of the party leadership to the governor, the immediate past President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, said the elders of the party in the state had met and resolved on the need to further strengthen the party in the state by harmonising the interest of the old and new members so as to forge a common front ahead of the 2019 general elections.
“As they joined us, we need to give them some positions, thereby giving them a sense of belonging. We have constituted an Integration Committee, which will work 24/7 to ensure proper harmonisation right from the council ward to state levels,” he said.
Findings revealed that the decision of the state party elders to wholly accept Governor Ortom into its fold despite the resistance of the governorship aspirants was as a result of his popularity and the incumbency factor with the attendant benefits. According to a member of the party in the state, “there is no way you can rule out the influence a sitting governor wields. Aside from this, Governor Ortom is an asset to any party because of his popularity, which cuts across the state.
“Secondly, the party (PDP) does not want to take any chances and the truth must be told. The question is among the aspirants, how many of them have the resources to prosecute the governorship election? Whether you like it or not, money plays a big role in not only running the party but also in an election, even in developed democracy. What you need is a competent person with enough resources and Ortom possesses all these.
“I am sure that was the reason why the state chairman of the party, during the caucus meeting, said that both the asset and liabilities of the party now rests on the governor,” the member said.
However, the handover of the party structure has continued to generate mixed feelings in the state. While a majority of party supporters in the state celebrated the development, some of the governorship aspirants expressed ill feelings.
One of the chieftains of PDP in the state and a former minister of state for education under Umaru Musa Yar’Adua administration, Professor Jerry Agada, described the step as the best thing to have happened to the state. He argued that no matter how intractable the problem in the party was, “the elders in their own ingenuity designed a solution to the problem, to me; it is a sign of good things to come.
“Mind you, politics at any level is important, people stability is also important, so all they have done suggested that peace can prevail at any time, because no matter what is used to achieve the coming together of the party chieftains, it is not bad as far as I am concerned.
“Winning the coming election is like a journey of a thousand miles, which begins with a step from what we saw on Monday. It is a clear indication that PDP is on its way to victory.”
Professor Agada said that the coming together of the party chieftains last Monday was the first time after many years the stalwarts within the party would come together to forge ahead.
Another PDP stalwart in the state, Alex Ushi, described the decision of the party elders as a true reflection of good things to come in the state.
Ushi said that the integration committee the party elders put in place would further strengthen the party, saying, “it is a good step that would bring every returning and new members from other political parties together.”
He explained that the essence of the integration was to ensure the appropriate distribution of party positions to all, including new entrants to the PDP, while expressing confidence that the process would also help other governorship hopefuls in their aspiration, with the best aspirant to emerge.
“There were a lot of processes that led to this; all I have to say is that PDP is a disciplined party. We play by the rules of the party and we are guided by the party constitution.
“The party will ensure that everybody is carried along, even all the governorship aspirants; that is the reason the governor while responding to the responsibility bestowed on him said he would allow a level-playing field for everyone, including his co-aspirants.
“Ortom said the race was not a do-or-die affairs; he said that it is God who crowns kings.”
But one of the governorship aspirants, Dr Telumun Nyitse was of the opinion that the party elders should have taken other aspirants into consideration in their decision.
He stated that the action of the party elders was against natural justice, giving preference to those who defected to the party at the detriment of those who remained and nurtured the party.
“Those who have been in the party should not be made to suffer for those who just came back. This is against natural justice and could lead to apathy among members,” Nyitse lamented.
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