National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyorchia Ayu, has given the assurance that he will not work against the senatorial ambition of Benue State governor, Mr. Samuel Ortom.
Ortom is the PDP candidate for the Benue North-West senatorial district at Saturday’s National Assembly election in the State.
Alongside four other governors who make up the G5, Ortom has been unequivocal in his refusal to support the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over what the group described as lack of fairness, equity and justice in the party’s power structure.
Caught in the crossfire of an internal crisis arising from Atiku’s emergence in the May 2022 presidential primary of the PDP, Ayu has yet to step down as requested by the G5 governors. For them, it is unacceptable for the northern region of the country to produce both the party’s presidential candidate and national chairman.
The feud seemingly reached its climax with Ortoms’s endorsement of the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, recently.
The PDP chairman, while briefing journalists at his Makurdi residence on Thursday, said he would not work against Ortom “because he is a candidate of the party.”
He called on Nigerians to reflect on the hardship of the last eight years with escalating insecurity, poverty and economic failures.
According to him, voting for Atiku can quickly change the fortune of the country.
Urging voters to choose the survival of the country, Ayu said the PDP needs to come to its rescue.
Meanwhile, the three senators representing Benue at the National Assembly, Gabriel Suswam, Emmanuel Oker-Jev and Abba Moro have all endorsed Atiku, quite apart from Ortom’s position to work for Obi.