Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State on Tuesday described former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi as one of the finest presidential candidates for the 2023 general elections.
Ortom stated this when Obi paid him a visit in Makurdi, the state capital, to express support to flood victims in the North-Central state.
The governor said Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour party (LP), has the capacity to liberate Nigeria from economic and security challenges.
“If Nigeria needs to make a choice, you are one of the finest candidates that we have in this country. In terms of education, in terms of character, in terms of performance, in terms of reaching out, in terms of being a pan-Nigerian, in terms of industrialisation, passion to ensure that our country is liberated from where we are; out of insecurity to security, and out of economic woes to economic vibrancy and out of lack to adequate social life, you have the capacity to make things work,” Ortom stated.
Ortom, a Peoples Democratic Party chieftain, said party or ethnicity should not be considerations in the February presidential election but the capacity of a candidate to deliver Nigeria from “the mess”.
“And Peter Obi from your antecedents, you have the capacity. If I were God, I would have said everything but I am not God,” the governor said.
Ortom said once God decides on who to be Nigeria’s next President, nobody or structure can stop such person.
Specifically, Ortom advised all the frontline presidential candidates to come together and agree on a candidate.
“If I were not in PDP, Peter Obi would have been my candidate but I am in PDP, that is my handicap but my prayers are with you,” he told Obi.
Earlier, Obi said the ‘deal’ he has with some aggrieved PDP governors including Ortom of is to achieve a better Nigeria.
For months, Ortom alongside Governors Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) have consistently demanded the resignation of PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu as a precondition to support PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The five governors have not been seen at any of Atiku’s rallies and it is not clear whether they will back Obi or Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress or any of the other presidential candidates.
