Samuel Ortom, a former governor of Benue State, responded to Phrank Shaibu’s claim that Atiku Abubakar, a candidate for president in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023, was Nigeria’s worst governor.
The G-5 Governors, according to Shaibu, were merely looking for respectability, jobs, and immunity from prosecution. He also claimed that they were working against Atiku.
In response, Ortom said Atiku Abubakar should be concerned since he has made history by becoming the first presidential candidate of a major political party to be rejected by important stakeholders and a sizable portion of his own party’s membership.
“We do not know whether the PDP presidential candidate’s special assistant on public communication had his approval before making the statement; if he had, he would not have cited the G-5 as the reason for his defeat in the voting booth.
Why was his candidacy rejected by the G-5 and other Integrity Group members is the subject that should concern him. Nigerians observed the unassailable facts included in the Integrity organization’s viewpoint and voted for a presidential candidate from the south because the organization stood for justice, equity, and fairness that the presidency in 2023 must go to the southern region of the nation.
The former governor of Benue State’s courage in telling Atiku the truth and reprimanding him for making impolite remarks about the slaughter of Benue citizens by Fulani herdsmen is another factor in the attack on Chief Ortom that he received from Atiku. It is known that Atiku was enraged with Ortom for having the audacity to pass a rule that forbade animals from grazing in the open in the state.
“Therefore, it is reasonable to interpret the former vice president’s tirade at Chief Ortom as an expression of his frustration over losing the election in 2023. His behavior in the past election can be summed up by his refusal to lower himself and unite the PDP and decision to maintain his arrogance despite strong indications that he was headed for defeat.
“Atiku lacks the moral authority to declare that someone else is corrupt. His former teacher, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president, labeled him as a highly corrupt man, and those statements have remained indelible and undisputed. On pages 191–192 of his book “My Watch,” Chief Obasanjo makes the following claim:
“One of the names offered to us was Atiku Abubakar. Up until that point, the EFCC and law enforcement organizations in the UK and the USA had a tight working relationship. As asked by the authorities, I gave Nuhu the go-ahead to conduct the inquiry, and I transmitted his findings to the USA. Concerning Atiku and his associates, the story was unsettling and distasteful. Given that my Administration had made combating corruption one of its guiding principles, I believed it was already terrible enough that the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was the subject of an investigation. In the end, Atiku’s home was searched by the US Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as a result of the investigations in Nigeria and the US. It was extremely embarrassing for our Embassy in Washington and our Administration.
“Investigating claims of corruption is the job of anti-graft agencies. Every time they invite someone, that person is required to accept the invitation. As a man who upholds the law, Chief Ortom voluntarily went to the EFCC when the Commission requested details about the administration’s actions, the statement continued.
In light of the fact that the claim made by Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is false and amounts to cheap blackmail, Ortom encouraged Nigerians to ignore it.
