By Aare Abiodun Oluwarotimi, Reporting for Nigerian Concord Newspaper
A former governor of Benue State, Mr. Gabriel Suswam has come under intense heat for claiming in a recent public outing that his successor who was also his sole benefactor who made it possible for him to win his senatorial election in 2019, Chief Samuel Ortom, PhD didn’t win any local government in Zone A during the 2019 governorship election.
Since the former governor made the derogatory statement against the 2019 election victory of his successor and benefactor, Benue social media influencers have taken to their various social media accounts where they heavily descended on him, calling him an ingrate.
Recall that there was a thick conspiracy at the national level of the People’s Democratic Party against Mr. Suswam prior to the return of Chief Ortom back to the then opposition party in Benue state in 2018.
According to multiple reports, the national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party had concluded to give the Benue Northeast senatorial ticket to another aspirant as a result of the multiple fraud cases Suswam was facing then.
The party believed that it would be difficult for him to win the senatorial election as a result of the EFCC cases.
But immediately Chief Samuel Ortom left the All Progressive Congress in 2018 and rejoined the People’s Democratic Party, he used his influence to ensure that Senator Suswam picked the PDP senatorial ticket for Benue Zone A.
Apart from getting the ticket for his predecessor, Chief Ortom also made a huge financial commitment to the aspiration and campaigns of the former governor which enabled him to secure victory at the poll.
Nigerian Concord Newspaper recalls how Chief Ortom personally drove to the INEC office in Makurdi three days after the senatorial election when the election umpire didn’t want to declare Senator Gabriel Suswam’s result.
INEC had declared Abba Moro as the winner in Zone C and Senator Oker Jev as winner in Zone B but refused to declare Senator Gabriel Suswam even three days after the election despite a clear indication that he had defeated Senator Barnabas Gemade.
Meanwhile, Mr. Terver Akase who is a Media Adviser/Consultant to Former Governor Samuel Ortom has condemned the claim by Mr. Suswam that his principal won in only the three local governments that make up Sankera during the 2019 governorship election and lost the rest of the local government areas in Benue North East (Zone A), stressing that the claim is not only false but grossly misleading.
In a press statement where he reacted to Senator Suswam’s statement, Akase said that it is shocking that such a claim would come from a man who not only governed Benue State for two terms but also represented Zone A in the Senate and actively participated in that year’s election. “One would expect accuracy, not a rewriting of recent and well-documented history” he added.
The statement reads below:
The official 2019 Benue governorship election results as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, which can still be accessed from the commission’s website, clearly show that Governor Samuel Ortom defeated his closest challenger, Emmanuel Jime of the APC, in six of the seven local government areas of Benue North East (Zone A).
The breakdown of the results in six of the Zone A local governments is as follows:
Ukum LGA: Ortom – 23,156/Jime – 11,790
Logo LGA: Ortom – 30,803/Jime – 4,586
Ushongo LGA: Ortom – 22,703/Jime – 14,683
Konshisha LGA: Ortom – 21,980/Jime – 13,802
Vandeikya LGA: Ortom – 27,725/Jime – 19,079
Kwande LGA: Ortom – 29,241 /Jime – 22,786
The only local government in Zone A where Governor Ortom did not win in 2019 was Katsina-Ala, where he scored 17,980 votes against Jime’s 21,614. Incidentally, Katsina-Ala is part of the immediate constituency of Senator Suswam.
These figures are not matters of opinion; they are verifiable election records. Senator Suswam’s assertion that Governor Ortom lost all local governments in Zone A is therefore entirely unfounded.
One is left to wonder why a former governor and senator has chosen to forget such a significant part of Benue’s electoral history and instead put forward figures that simply do not exist. Public discourse, especially from senior political figures, demands honesty and respect for facts.
Facts remain facts, regardless of convenience.
Finally, it is important to emphasize that Chief Ortom has no interest in whom Senator Suswam chooses to support in 2027 and has no intention of interfering in that choice. However, he should refrain from using His Excellency Ortom as a bargaining chip to seek political patronage, as he attempted to do yesterday in Ugba. The immediate past Governor of Benue State is not contesting for any elective office in 2027 and has made this position clear, public, and unequivocal.