Thousands of people have left the main opposition party for the ruling APC in Benue State as the 2019 draws closer.
Governor Samuel Ortom
The All Progressives Congress in Benue says 3,000 supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have defected to APC in Guma, the local government area of Governor Samuel Ortom.
James Ornguga, APC’s acting state publicity secretary, made this known to newsmen on Saturday in Makurdi.
He said: “We read a comical statement from the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Benue State, Mr Terver Akase, wherein he alleged that our party had organized the IDPs for distribution of relief materials and ended up tagging same as a “campaign rally”.
“This accusation is too infantile to have emanated from the spokesperson of a sitting governor but since we are used to the many lies of the Ortom administration in close to four years, the APC can at most describe the action as shameful and a display of immaturity from a panicky government.”
According to the statement, Benue APC on Friday organised a defection ceremony at Daudu, Guma where a former speaker of the state, Stephen Tsav, and over 3,000 PDP members from Nyiev, Mbagwen and Mbawa defected to APC.
He said: “Everyone who witnessed that event would be forced to commiserate with the Benue State Governor since it marked the end of PDP in Guma, his home local government.
“Rather than mourn this gross deflation of the PDP in one of its strongholds in Benue, Governor Samuel Ortom’s image maker has opted to ridicule himself with careless words that clearly expose the governor’s insomnia over this gathering.”