The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on Tuesday, November 08, 2022, reacted to the tirades against him by the Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom.
What Atiku said: The former vice president said it’s uncivil for Ortom to blame him for the armed Fulani attacks on the people of Benue State.
Atiku, in his response, insisted that Benue is his home.
Why Ortom will not support Atiku: Ortom had vowed never to support Atiku’s presidential ambition due to the killings in Benue State.
Stressing that to “hell with Atiku,” the governor said he couldn’t support a Fulani man due to herders’ attacks on residents of the state.
However, Ortom had declared that he would have picked the Labour Party, LP, presidential candidate, Peter Obi as Nigeria’s next president if he were God.
He spoke in Makurdi, the capital of Benue while visiting flood victims in the state.
Describing the Labour Party Presidential candidate as the finest option for the country, Governor Ortom said Obi has what it takes to liberate Nigeria from its economic and security woes.
According to him: “If Nigeria needs to make a choice, Obi is one of the finest candidates that we have in this country. In terms of education, in terms of character, in terms of performance, in terms of reaching out, in terms of being a pan-Nigerian, in terms of industrialisation, and passion to ensure that our country is liberated from where we are, out of insecurity to security, and out of economic woes to economic vibrancy and out of lack to adequate social life, you (Obi) have the capacity to make things work.”
Atiku accepts Ortom’s rejection: Reacting, Atiku said the governor is entitled to support any candidate of his choice in 2023.
He spoke through the spokesperson of his presidential campaign team, Dino Melaye.
Appearing on Arise TV, Melaye said: “Ortom is entitled by right to support whichever candidate he wants; it’s not proper to place the blame of what is happening in Benue on Atiku; it is not fair. During the Shagari administration, he appointed four Benue indigenes as ministers, also the late Yar’Adua appointed a Benue indigene as AGF. These two presidents are Fulani by ethnicity, yet they appointed Benue citizens.”
What you should know: In February this year, Atiku donated N50 million to IDPs.
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