Former Benue State Governor, Chief Samuel Ortom, has said that he does not regret working against former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 presidential election, despite Atiku being the flag bearer of their party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
His Excellency, Chief Ortom was one of the five PDP governors, known as G5, who openly rejected Alhaji Atiku as the PDP flag bearer and worked for Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 poll.
“I did not hide it. I have no regret,” the former governor said this on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme on Monday.
The former Banue state governor expressed no regrets over his decision, saying that he was pursuing the interest of his people and not betraying anyone.
He described politics as a game of interest, where one has to fight back when their interests were being worked against.
According to him, the interest of his people was paramount, and he had to act in their best interest.
The former governor explained that his decision to work against Atiku was based on the zoning argument, where the North would do eight years and the South would do eight years.
He said that it was unheard of that a Northerner, Muhammadu Buhari, would be president for eight years and then another Northerner, Atiku, would succeed him.
Ortom believed in a southern presidency and not a northern presidency, which was why some of them supported a southern presidential aspirant.
Ortom also said that he has no plan to leave the PDP, despite Atiku’s recent exit from the party.
He described himself as the leader of PDP in Benue State and a member of the Board of Trustees (BoT).
Ortom expressed no interest in joining any coalition, including the opposition coalition floated on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and unveiled by top Benue politicians.
The former governor said he was not surprised by Atiku’s exit from the PDP but was skeptical about the survival of the ADC coalition.
He described the coalition as one that won’t survive, stating that even if they survive the litigation, they will be defeated hands down.
