Ortom justifies lending Obi vehicle during Benue visit
The immediate past governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has said he assisted the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, by providing him with a vehicle during his visit to the state last Tuesday because Mr Obi is a prominent personality.
Obi’s visit to Benue was botched after suspected hoodlums blocked his convoy from proceeding on a humanitarian visit to Yelewata where scores were killed in the June 2025 massacre.
The state governor, Hyacinth Alia, through his Chief Press Secretary, Kula Tersoo, last Friday accused Ortom of facilitating Obi’s visit to the state.
Ortom, who spoke through his media aide, Terver Akase, said it would have been petty for him to decline to assist Obi with his vehicle during the visit.
Ortom said, “Statesman who understands the demands of public service and the obligations that come with leadership. It is therefore both ridiculous and shameful for anyone to attempt to criminalise or politicise the simple act of making a vehicle available to a fellow Nigerian leader.
“Peter Obi is a former governor, a presidential candidate and one of the most prominent political figures in the country. Imagine how it would have sounded if Chief Ortom had refused to assist him with transportation while he was in Benue on a humanitarian mission to visit internally displaced persons.
“Such a refusal would rightly have been viewed as petty, inhospitable and beneath the dignity of a former governor. Indeed, extending such a courtesy should ordinarily have been the responsibility of the Benue State Government itself, given the status of the visitor.
“That the Alia administration is now trying to make a controversy out of what was merely a humane, courteous and statesmanlike gesture exposes the poverty of its argument and the desperation behind its propaganda. In other climes, leaders are commended for extending courtesies across political divides, not vilified for doing so.
“The attempt to portray an act of hospitality as evidence of wrongdoing is both intellectually dishonest and politically immature.”
On the allegation that he was being “double-faced”, the former governor described it as “laughable”, saying he was a man of his word and would always stand by any candidate he publicly declared support for.
He said that in 2023, he publicly declared his support for Obi but had now declared his support for President Bola Tinubu.
