PRESS STATEMENT: WE HAVE NOT STEPPED DOWN FOR ORTOM, AND WE DO NOT HAVE ANY PLAN TO. Following the repeated radio announcements by the Benue State EXCO of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the effect that we have adopted the immediate-past Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Chief Samuel Ortom, as our CONSENSUS GOVERNORSHIP CANDIDATE, and his consequential celebration, we wish to reiterate our earlier position, via a press statement on same, that BOTH ORTOM AND HIS SPONSORS IN THE BENUE APC ARE ON THEIR OWN. Although there will be a detailed statement later in the day, we wish to add here and now that: 1. NO ONE has stepped down for Chief Ortom, NO ONE IS THINKING OF IT, AND NO ONE HAS ANY PLAN, EVEN REMOTELY, of STEPPING DOWN for him. We say this confidently because since our last meeting last week, NOTHING HAS HAPPENED TO MAKE US CHANGE OR SHIFT OUR POSITION. Every meeting we hold is to REJECT HIS CANDIDATURE WHOLESALE AND EVERYTHING INGLORIOUS THAT IT REPRESENTS. 2.As far as we know and are concerned, Chief Ortoms dream of ruling Benue State is a legitimate one, but we happen to know that he is pursuing this dream on the platform of his Sg party, the PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PDP). 3. The last time we read about him, Ortom was one of the aspirants that was rejected by PDP Delegates at the PDP Governorship Primaries! 4. We know the registered and card-carrying APC members who are aspiring for the partys Governorship Ticket, and these: Chief J.K.N. Waku, Prof. Steve Ugbah, Hon. Emmanuel Jime, Chief Mike Iordye and Chief Akange Audu. 5. We also know that because we are serious about our aspiration, we accordingly bought the Expression of Interest Forms as well as the Governorship Nomination Forms within the stipulated time-frame so as to enable us go for our partys screening. 6. It is pertinent for us to note that as at today, being the 15th day of December, 2014, the only APC GOVERNORSHIP ASPIRANTS IN BENUE STATE WHO HAVE BEEN DULY SCREENED AND ISSUED THEIR CERTIFICATES ARE FIVE OF US i.e. CHIEF J.K.N. Waku, Prof. Steve Ugbah, Hon. Emmanuel Jime, Chief Mike Iordye and Chief Akange Audu. This makes us eligible to vie for the partys guber ticket at the partys GOVERNORSHIP PRIMARIES. 7. If as at today, being the 15th day of December, 2014, the APC has not held the governorship primaries for one of us to emerge as the Benue State APC Governorship Candidate, the SCANDAL is not ours, but squarely that of those who have been saddled with that responsibility, but have mismanaged it. 8. If for whatever reason, the party cannot (or chooses not to) hold the primaries, and a CONSENSUS CANDIDATE HAS TO EMERGE, it has to be the outcome of a MEETING OF WE APC GOVERNORSHIP ASPIRANTS WITH THE PARTY, AND NOT THE DECISION OF ONE MAN. NEEDLESS TO SAY, THE CONSENSUS CANDIDATE SO CHOSEN MUST NECESSARILY be one us i.e. we the five authentic aspirants. 9. If suddenly, a failed PDP governorship aspirant becomes the CONSENSUS GOVERNORSHIP CANDIDATE of APC, a rival party, WE WILL CONSIDER IT A BAD DREAM, AND WE WILL PROCEED TO REJECT IT WITH ALL CONSTITUTIONAL VEHEMENCE, USING EVERY LEGAL, DEMOCRATIC AND MORAL WEAPON AT OUR DISPOSAL. 10. THE APC IS A POLITICAL PARTY, AND NOT ANY ONES PRIVATE ESTATE, AND SO WE INSIST THAT IT MUST NOT BE TURNED INTO A MOTOR-PARK BY ANYBODY WITH A VIEW TO ROLLING BACK THE FORCES OF DIMINISHING RETURNS WHICH HAVE INEVITABLY CAUGHT UP WITH HIM. 11. ARISING FROM THE FOREGOING, WE DECLARE THAT: A THOUSAND AND ONE RADIO/TV ANNOUNCEMENTS CANNOT MAKE CHIEF SAMUEL ORTOM, WHOM WE UNDERSTAND TO BE PLAYING THE DIVINE CARD, THE CONSENSUS GOVERNORSHIP CANDIDATE OF OUR PARTY. 12. Because we are loyal party members, we, once again, pledge our unalloyed loyalty to the APC, both at the state and national levels. And we say: LONG LIVE, APC; LONG LIVE, BENUE STATE. PROF. STEVE TORKUMA UGBAH (For and on behalf of G.5)
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 13:20:18 +0000
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