Deny Ayu promised to resign if a northerner emerges
Leaders of the PDP in Benue State have defied Governor Samuel Ortom’s directive to members not to support and work for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

The leaders, who spoke with The Guardian, yesterday, said that Ortom had misgivings but could not go alone without the combined support of party elders and stakeholders.

Director, Election Management of the PDP Presidential Campaign Council, Prof Iyorwuese Hagher and Deputy Director of the campaign council in charge of the North and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chile Igbawua, in separate interviews spoke exclusively with The Guardian. Both of them are indigenes of Benue State.

Also, two former council chairmen, George Alli, erstwhile Chairman, Oturkpo Local Council and Joseph Asawa, immediate past Council Chairman of Ushongu Local Council, have similarly spurned Ortom’s directive for party members not to support Atiku.

Igbawua, who was House of Representatives member, expressed optimism that the issues confronting the party would be resolved before the elections.

He said that despite Ortom’s grievances, he had never contemplated defection, admitting that the PDP national chairman Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, had indeed said he would resign if a northerner emerges as presidential candidate.

Hagher told The Guardian: “The same Ortom supported Atiku in 2019 and danced the Atikulated dance. He cannot be so rigidly against Atiku Abubakar as some people assume him to be.

“Ortom has something with Wike that is more than politics. It’s friendship. Perhaps, that’s why he is bidding his time until the appropriate moment. The majority of Benue leaders are behind Atiku and Ortom cannot go it alone.”