Following the exit of Governor Samuel Ortom from the All Progressives Congress, APC, the party has begun shopping for a credible candidate to win the 2019 governorship election in the state.
This is as Ortom was accused of worsening the economic situation in the state through the mismanagement of funds.
The National Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, made these known on Friday while speaking with journalists at the APC secretariat in Abuja.
Oshiomhole who said he was happy that at last Ortom left the party also blamed him for being a part of the problem that led to the loss of lives in the state.
He argued that it would be impossible for the APC to win the coming election if Ortom had remained the candidate.
He said, in fact, his emergence as the candidate of the party in the last election was by error.
Said Oshiomhole: “The APC in Benue State is relieved. I am relieved that Ortom has joined the club he actually belongs to; a club whose primary philosophy is to share the money, not to develop the communities.
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“We now have a clean platform to look and search for a credible Benue citizen that can provide the kind of leadership that the great people of Benue deserve, not someone that seeks to make capital out of human graves and celebrate the death of his own people.
“As a party, we condemn any life that has been wasted by criminals whether in Benue State or any part of Nigeria. From the point of view of our leaders in Benue state, their position was clear that they believe fielding Governor Ortom on the APC platform in 2019 election can only lead to electoral defeat for a number of reasons.
“They reminded us that in spite of the allocation accruing to Benue and in spite of the bailout funds amounting to over N20 billion that he has received in two installments of N10 billion each and in addition to the huge sum of money Benue State collected from Paris Club refund, Governor Ortom has not and is not paying salary to Benue workers as and when due.
“He is owing some of them 12 months salary, some more than 15 months salary. Benue state survives largely on civil servants’ salary… This element alone substantially explained the vicious circle of poverty in Benue State that have deepened under Governor Ortom.”
Oshiomhole said some persons associated with the governor were arrested over the killings in the state.
“They draw our attention to the fact that Governor Ortom has complicated the killings by his own action and poor judgement.
“Some of those who have been arrested in respect of killings in Benue, were people who have been associated with Governor Ortom, including people who have been in his employ.”
Oshiomhole stressed that Ortom got the “ticket on a platter of gold and he was never a participant during the formation of our party. He became a candidate by accident and lesson to learn from our party is that never again should a candidate on our party platform be by accident.”
