…Says, Coalition ADC will be defeated
Immediate past governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has said that he has no regret whatsoever for working against former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 general election, irrespective of the fact that he was the flag bearer of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Ortom, who stated this on Monday, July 21, 2025, when he featured on Channels Television programme ‘Politics Today’, said that he did not view working against his party’s candidate as a betrayal.
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He further said that politics is a game of interest, adding that if he had somebody working against his interest and the interest of his people, he would certainly fight back.
In the words of Ortom; “Which betrayal? Pursuing my interest and the interest of my people? The interest of my people is that you provide what they want. If you ask me, I would describe politics as a game of doing what your people want, not what I want. I did not hide it. I have no regret”.
Former governor Ortom was one of the G-5 PDP governors in 2023 who worked against the presidential candidate of the Party.
Ortom particularly said that it was unheard of that a northerner, Muhammadu Buhari, was president for eight years and then another northerner in the person of Atiku would succeed him.
According to him, “We were preaching equity, fairness, and justice. How can you explain to me that a northern won the presidency for eight years and another northern, from the same ethnic group, will win the presidency for another four years or eight years, as the case may be?
“Our democracy has not gotten to that level. We said no; it is in the unwritten constitution that the North will do eight years and the South will do eight years.
“So, we believed in a southern presidency and not a northern presidency. That was why some of us supported a southern presidential aspirant,” he said.
Commenting on the Coalition ADC, Ortom declared that his has no intention of leaving the PDP, saying that the coalition will not survive.
Ortom also said he was not surprised by Atiku’s exit from the PDP, saying that the African Democratic Congress (ADC) will be defeated in 2027.
According to him, “People are free to join any coalition that they so wish, but for me, and the people that I lead, we will remain in the PDP. I’m the leader of PDP in Benue State and a member of the BoT.
“I am not joining any coalition. We have no business with that. I don’t see it surviving. In any case, even if they survive, if they are through with the litigation that is going on, they will be defeated hands down,” he stated.
