Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue
state, has defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
He said his resignation letter
had been sent to the chairman of the APC in his ward.
“I have formally resigned from
APC to PDP and have presented my letter of resignation to the party’s chairman
of my ward,” he said.
“The chairman and other officers
of my ward also indicated their interest to join me in my new party. I am too
young to retire from politics.”
Recall, we had listed Ortom as one
of the three APC governors that would join the opposition party.
Ortom’s defection comes a day
after Terkimbi Ikyange, speaker of Benue state house of assembly, was
impeached.
The APC had also lost 52
lawmakers at the national assembly on the same day.
Ortom was a member of PDP who
served as minister of state for trade and industry under ex-President Goodluck
Jonathan. He left the PDP for APC in 2014.
Earlier on Wednesday, some youth
in the state prevented Ortom from attending a reconciliation meeting with APC
stakeholders.
The protesters comprising youth
groups carried various placards and chanted songs, calling on the governor to
leave the ruling party.
Addressing journalists, Terrence
Kuanum, leader of the youth, said: “We are openly telling you this because if
you fail to heed our advise and attend the meeting we will ensure that you are
voted out in 2019.
“We the Benue youth are not
prepared to stay with you in APC, we are not prepared to remain in a party
where its leaders would prefer to look the other way while armed herdsmen
killed our children, pregnant women.”
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