The National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Iyorchia Ayu, says he will not work against the senatorial ambitions of Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State.
Ortom is the PDP candidate for the Benue North-West senatorial district in the 2023 elections.
Alongside four other governors who make up the G5, Ortom has been unequivocal in his refusal to support the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, over what the group calls a need for fairness, equity, and justice.
Caught in the crossfire of an internal crisis arising from Atiku’s emergence in the May 2022 presidential primary of the PDP, Ayu has yet to step down in accordance with the G5’s insistence that the same region cannot produce both the party’s presidential candidate and national chairman.
The feud seemingly reached its zenith with the Benue governor’s endorsement of the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, last month.
The PDP chairman, while briefing journalists at his Makurdi residence on Thursday, said he would not work against Ortom “because he is a candidate of the party.”
He called on Nigerians to reflect on the hardships of the last eight years, with escalating insecurity, poverty, and economic failures.
According to him, voting for Atiku can quickly change the fortunes of the country.
Urging voters to choose the survival of the country, the PDP chairman said the PDP needs to come to its rescue.
Meanwhile, the three senators representing Benue at the National Assembly, Gabriel Suswam, Emmanuel Oker-Jev, and Abba Moro, have all endorsed Atiku, distancing themselves from Ortom’s position to work for Obi.
