Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has thrown his support behind Peter Obi, saying he is willing to sacrifice his senatorial ambitions for Labor Party (LP) candidate to win the Nigerian presidential election.
The election will be held on Saturday, February 25.
Mr. Obi, who has encouraged Nigerian youths since he entered the race, is one of the three main candidates for the election. Others are Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Vice President of Nigeria Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
“For me, it’s not that I participate in the election. Yes, the form was bought for me by a citizen of Benue State. I’ve been around; he has accepted that he will vote (for) me.
“But if I am going to sacrifice my senatorial ambition for Peter Obi to win, so be it,” Mr. Ortom said on Monday while addressing the Igbo community in Benue State, according to a report by Channels TV.
The governor, who is a member of the PDP, may be reacting to the possibility of being endorsed by the national leadership of the PDP as part of the internal rebellion against the party and its presidential candidate, Atiku.
After Atiku defeated Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State and other aspirants to emerge as the PDP presidential candidate in May last year, Messrs. Wike, Ortom, and three other governors came together to form the G5 that opposed northern Nigeria to produce a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari. .
Mr. Buhari hails from Katsina State, northwestern Nigeria.
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Other governors who are members of the G5 are Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu State), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia State), and Seyi Makinde (Oyo State).
The group has campaigned unsuccessfully to force the PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, to step down and pave the way for a southerner to lead the party to achieve “regional balance”.
Mr. Wike, after he managed to strike a deal with the APC candidate, Mr. Tinubu, recently said it was impossible for him and the G5 to negotiate peace with Atiku.
‘Obi’s problem with Nigeria’
Mr. Ortom said the LP candidate, Mr. Obi, represents an opportunity for the Igbo of the South-East to produce the president of Nigeria.
However, he described Mr Obi as “a species not bound by ethnicity”.
“Don’t miss the opportunity given by God himself. The youth have told me, my own people have told me – the stakeholders here, the traditional rulers, the party people on party lines. The Obi thing is not about APC or PDP or SDP or any other party. It is about Nigeria.
“That is why when I heard some prominent Igbo personalities condemning Peter Obi for contesting the election – are you the person who said you have been marginalized since the war?
“Opportunity has come today and you’re still complaining. What do you want?! What are you looking for?
All the countries – North, South, East, and West – say Peter Obi, and you hear some people say, ‘We don’t want it.’ Hello! They should be removed,” Governor Ortom said.
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