Ortom set to leave APC as mediation by govs fails

Moves by All Progressives Congress, APC, governors to reconcile Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State and President Muhammadu Buhari have derailed, putting the state under political uncertainty as the governor gets set to exit the ruling party.


The governor’s imminent exit got further traction at the weekend when he dissolved the state cabinet and in the process sacked associates of his one-time political patron, Senator George Akume. When the governor dissolved the cabinet, he, however, retained four commissioners, who were known not to be in any way linked to Akume, a former governor of the state who wields immense political influence in the state.

Ortom’s possible exit from the APC has been mostly fuelled by internal feelings of revolt against the APC upon allegations that the federal administration also controlled by the same party had been indifferent in the face of herdsmen attacks on the people of the state.