By Emegwoako C. Paschal
Middlebelt Renaissance Movement (MRM) has warned Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom to stop distracting Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) supporters in the state and the Middle Belt zone over the 2023 general elections, claiming that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is the party’s constitutionally recognized candidate in next year’s presidential election.
The group urged the governor to retrace his steps and return to the fold in the interest of his state and the Middle Belt zone in a statement signed by its Chairman Board of Trustees, Mr. Philip Terver, in Makurdi.
The group stated that it is past time for Ortom to abandon his personal and selfish ambition for the sake of the people of the state, who are eagerly awaiting the PDP to rescue the state and country from the maladministration of the country’s All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government.
Terver claimed that the group has tentacles all over the state and region and that it will continue to work tirelessly to ensure Atiku Abubakar’s victory in the upcoming presidential election.
Terver warned Governor Nyesom Wike’s PDP camp to stop misleading the party’s throngs of loyal supporters across the country, saying “they should all come back to the fold and work for the party’s victory in the interest of Nigerians, who have suffered untold hardships under the misrule of the APC.”
Terver called Ortom’s attack on Atiku’s personality “needless grandstanding and desecration of Tiv culture.”
“The governor’s attack on the former Vice President’s personality is a desecration of Tiv traditional institution.”
“Has Ortom forgotten for a moment that Atiku is the “Zege Mule -U – Tiv that all Tiv sons and daughters must respect?”
“We are pleading with our state brothers and sisters to implore the governor to sheathe his sword and return to the fold in the interests of all who are eagerly awaiting genuine change at the center.”
He stated that the country cannot afford another four years of APC rule, particularly in the Middle Belt region, which has been the epicenter of banditry and killings over the last seven years.
The group promised to continue mobilizing youths and women in the state and zone to work tirelessly for Atiku’s presidential election victory.
