Ortom berates Ayu again, says he can’t stop anyone from pursuing elective office
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Benue Governor Samuel Ortom has described as false the claim by Peoples Democratic Party National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu that he has the power to stop his bid for the Senate and the political aspirations of others who criticise him.
Ayu boasted at his country home in Gboko last weekend that his position in the party confers on him the authority to stop anyone from pursuing elective office if he so desires.
Ortom countered on Tuesday that Ayu does not have the power to revoke a mandate freely given by party delegates.
“If he had the power, why didn’t he do it then? Does he [Ayu] have the power to revoke the process already conducted and passed by delegates?” Ortom said in Makurdi through his Chief Press Secretary Nathaniel Ikyur, per The PUNCH.
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Wike labels Ayu an ingrate for threating Ortom who helped make him PDP Chair
Down South, Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike has railed against Iyorchia Ayu for biting the finger that fed him by threatening Ortom who lobbied Governors for him to become PDP National Chairman.
Wike reacted at his private residence in Rumiprikon in Rivers by daring Ayu to make good his threat.
“It is most unfortunate. Nobody has said Ayu should be sacked. The word sack and keeping to your promise are two different things,” he said.
He insisted the position of the G5 Governors is that since the PDP constitution says there must be zoning of elective and political offices, it is not allowed for the presidential candidate and the National Chairman to come from the same zone.
“Saying that nobody can sack him does not arise because nobody has said he must be sacked. For you to be sacked, there are procedures for sacking people.
“If at this point, you are a National Chairman of a party who has told Nigerians that this is what you will do if this happens and now that it has happened, you are running away from doing that.”
Wike insists Ayu has no integrity to sell PDP to voters
“How do you expect Nigerians to now believe you? How do you convince them to vote for your party when they know you won’t keep to integrity?
“I heard when he said he would have stopped Ortom from running [for Senate]. You see how ungrateful human beings are,” Wike said, per reporting by The PUNCH.
“This was the same Governor Ortom who pleaded with us, and said listen, ‘I can take this risk and let him [Ayu] become the National Chairman.’
“The Governors agreed that no National Chairman should come from where a Governor comes from. We agreed on that.
“But Ortom came, and he is a man we respect, he said I want to promote my people. Let them be at the national politics; and we said okay, in your honour we will agree.
“This is a man [Ayu] who never campaigned anywhere. This is a man who never bought a form or a poster. Even the money they gave him to print posters, he never printed any posters.
“Now he is saying he can stop the man who brought him, who became his guarantor.”
Wike said Ayu was probably hoping Nigerians would donate money to the PDP so could superintendent it.