2027: Ex- Benue govs, Suswam, Ortom decry crisis in PDP

From Attah Ede Makurdi

The Former governors of Benue State, Samuel Ortom and Gabriel Suswam on Thursday, admitted that there are contentious issues confronting the peace and unity in the main opposition People’s Democratic Party PDP in the State.

The two leaders of the party in the state, further said that there was need to address the root cause of the problem that had bedeviled the party, thereby causing disaffection amongst members.

The former governors,Suswam and Ortom spoke during the expanded stakeholders meeting of the party that was convened by the State Caretaker Committee of the party, held at the party secretariat in Makurdi.

Although discussions at the meeting were expected to revolve around the forthcoming chairmanship and council elections in the state, issues of the crises that had come on the party took center stage.

But at the end of the day, all parties including Chief Ortom, Senator Suswam and Senator Abba Moro, representing Benue South senatorial district and the speakers from the three senatorial zones resolved to close ranks and move forward.

Declaring the meeting open, Chairman of the Caretaker Committee, AVM Napoleon Bali, said the meeting was to brief members of the party ahead of the forthcoming Local Government (LG)elections in the state.

Although he confirmed that there were issues on ground, he was confident that such issues would be resolved and put behind the party in no distant time from now.

While he encouraged party members to pick forms and contest the election, he said he was hopeful that despite all, the PDP would make an impact in the election.

Bali, who advised members of the party to play by the rules, pledged that it would ensure that the right thing was done at all times.

In his remarks at the occasion, Senator Suswam observed that “If we pretend here that there are no issues and go into the local government elections, the same issues that are on ground will resurface.

” So it is absolutely important for us to address these issues; they are very fundamental, they are grassroot issues. And if we don’t address them, as we go back to do these primaries and try to select our candidates for the party, those issues will come up.

“We have self inflicted pains on our party and we are very divided as we are seated here, which has never happened before.

“When we, leaders of the party, sat together and decided that the immediate past Governor (Ortom) should be the leader of the party, there were no dissenting voices. But certain things have cropped in and we are unable to sit together. So we have to sit together and address these fundamental issues, otherwise even in these congresses we are going to have some issues.

“Today, I believe most of us are here. We will have subsequent meetings. But there are stakeholders in various local governments who understand the issues and as they will sit with you and we will begin to address those issues.

“So I want to appeal to you that while we address the issues of local government elections we should quickly fix a meeting for us to address the fundamental issues that are tearing our party apart.”

In his remarks, the leader of the party in the state, Chief Samuel Ortom insisted that, “We (PDP) are a strong force; till tomorrow PDP remains a big party that can win elections at any time.

“And by the grace of God we have seen the power of uniting together to win elections, but when we are divided we lose and that shows a big lesson that we must not fight to fulfill our personal interest or boost our ego but we should fight for the interest of the party. That is what will make things work for us.

“And where things are wrong, we should be bold enough to confront them (leaders) because the end result will be where we have found ourselves today; being complacent and sitting on the fence will not help us.

“I also agree as leader of the party that things are not well with us and there is need for us to sit together; if we sit together we can be able to iron out our differences; those areas that are conflicting with our interest and then we can come out with solutions that will project and promote the People’s Democratic Party.

“We are on ground and if we are united, I can assure you that we are going to win elections anytime and any day.

“You (Caretaker Committee) have additional work to do; as our leaders we must work closely because we know how elections at the local levels are done and here I think we can win with a little bit of careful strategy.

“In our party, we have always had conflicts but we have always found ways of resolving it and that is why in the Constitution of our party it is embedded in the conflict resolution mechanism; internally we sort out our problems.

“We can still do it; we can do that at individual levels, discuss with ourselves. Where we cannot, there are others we can call to help us resolve it. That is life; that is politics; you cannot run away from conflicts

Senator Abba Moro, representing Benue South senatorial district who appealed to leaders of the party not to meddle in the selection process, insisted that the emergence of the right candidate was key to the PDP winning the local government polls in the state.

Speaker after speaker, from each of the senatorial zones, stressed the need for the PDP to have a united house that was capable of winning any election in the state.

While they pledged that they would continually support the party to succeed, the speakers also pledged to extend the same support to the Caretaker Committee to ensure a smooth transition.

They also appealed to the Committee to work towards ensuring that peace was restored in the state chapter of the PDP, stating that the move would grant the PDP victory, come 2027.