Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has slammed the presidency for mocking him for losing election to the Senate, saying that his acceptance of the election outcome shows he is not desperate.
“Governor Ortom’s decision not to challenge the result of the Benue North West Senatorial election in court again points to the fact that he is not a selfish and desperate politician,” he said.
Ortom said this in reaction to a statement by Garba Shehu on Wednesday blaming him for the insecurity in Benue State.
READ ALSO: Presidency Tackles Ortom On Insecurity, Senatorial Bid, Says Benue ‘Rejected’ Him
Shehu had said that the people of Benue have “rejected” Ortom who lost his bid to represent Benue North in the Senate over the myriad challenges bedevilling the state.
But the Benue Governor in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Nathaniel Ikyur, on Thursday said the Presidency’s attempt to mock his election loss proves that APC deployed heavy security personnel to rig the election.
“The Presidency’s attempt to mock Governor Ortom over the loss of his senatorial seat and the PDP in the Governorship has furthermore strengthened our belief that the massive deployment of security personnel for the elections in the state was planned and hatched in the presidential villa and supervised by agents of the APC.
“But let the Presidential spokesman remember that Governor Ortom is extremely grateful to the people of the State for always giving him the opportunity to serve them. As he has often quoted in Psalm 34:19, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.”
“The Governor stands for justice, equity, and fairness and no amount of blackmail and impunity as orchestrated by the Buhari administration can make him change his advocacy against injustice and oppression,” Ikyur said.
“In fact, before the elections, Governor Ortom had publicly stated that he was ready to sacrifice his senatorial ambition for the sake of the survival of democracy where the likes of Garba Shehu and their collaborators would rather want it truncated. It is public knowledge that the 2023 elections were heavily rigged using some security operatives, money, federal might, and electronic means.”
