Benue elders urge Gov Ortom to dump APC

As pressure continues to mount on Governor Samuel Ortom to dump All Progressives Congress, APC,  some elders in the state from Masev, Ihyarev and Nongov Development Association also known as MINDA Zone, have urged the governor to dump APC and hasten the announcement of a new political platform to achieve his re-election bid.


The elders’ council of MINDA under the chairmanship of Senator Joseph Waku made the call in an emergency meeting held at the Makurdi residence of the senator.

Waku, who was the first to speak, said MINDA had in the past supported other blocs in the state to produce and enjoy their turns as governors of the state, insisting that they would not allow those who had assumed the roles of demigods to cause confusion in their ranks.

According to Waku, “there was no crisis in the APC in Benue State but one person has decided to hijack the party and MINDA has no time to waste struggling over a platform after suffering the devastation induced by armed herders.”

Mr. Joe Nyam spoke for Gwer East, Vincent Aondoakaa spoke for Gwer West while Chief Thomas Ano and Dr. David Tsevende spoke for Makurdi and Guma respectively.

They stated that but for the military intervention that cut short the administrations of Aper Aku and Rev. Fr. Moses Adasu of blessed memory as governors of the state, Senator George Akume and Gabriel Suswam did eight years as governors and wondered why Ortom’s case should be different.

While assuring the governor of their unflinching support for his re-election project, the elders said: “APC-led administration had not been fair to Benue people, hence the need to move en mass to another political party as quickly as possible.”

They vowed to resist the antics of divide and rule by any individual or group of persons, warning that such development would not be in the collective interest of Benue people.

On his part, Mr. Dickson Tarkighir representing Makurdi/Guma federal constituency and Mr. Avine Agbom who spoke for National and state Assembly members from MINDA said if Benue people abandon Ortom at this critical time that he had given his all for them, nobody would speak for the state tomorrow, adding: “Any Tiv man who complains that Governor Ortom had cried too much over the killings in the state is certainly an enemy of the Tiv nation.”

Governor Ortom, in his response, said he was overwhelmed by the support of his kinsmen to his cause, noting that if it were in developed climes, his positon on ranching would have been rewarded handsomely instead of the persecution he was currently facing from several quarters.

He said he was tired of a one-man show in Benue APC, stressing that he was consulting to decide on his next line of action and destination.