How Benue State governor governor Ortom lost out totally in the polls
The Benue State governor Samuel Ortom is the “best loser” in the 2023 elections. He lost at all fronts and he has remained literally stranded. Everything would become clearer to him when he leaves office on 29 May.
He miscalculated and that backfired to haunt and hurt him seriously. He has had a very bad electioneering period as he is either defeated or his cronies lost their bid for power.
The Benue State governor wouldn’t foresee things to go the way they actually did. He would have expected success at in least in one of the fronts where he fired some shots at.
Samuel Ortom decided to back Peter Obi for the presidency. He is one of the five governors who bitterly fought the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar. While others didn’t openly support the other three of the presidential candidates, the Benue State governor said he would throw his weight behind the ex Anambra State governor.
It’s true that Mr. Peter Obi won Benue State, however, victory in that north central state was insignificant as the Labour Party candidate could only come third in the poll. He lost to Bola Tinubu. That means the Benue State governor did it in vain and he lost out.
To give him more headache, voters in Benue North West Senatorial district snubbed the governor. Outgoing governors often jostle for a seat at the House of Senate for “retirement”.
The Benue State governor was not exempted. But he failed in his bid to win the seat. He used the platform of the same party he aggressively fought. Mr. Titus Zam of the All Progressives Congress scored 143,151 to stun and sting Samuel Ortom with his 106,802 votes.
It’s amazing to learn that Mr. Samuel Ortom reportedly made Peter Obi win Benue State, yet he couldn’t win a portion of the food basket of the nation for himself.
He is one of the governors who lost elections this year. The senatorial election is one of those fonts where he woefully lost. The Benue State governor miscalculated on that by picking up a fight with the party that made him.
The governorship election would have been a consolation for him. He would have found a solace in it and heaved a sigh of relief. But the 18 March election only compounded his woes and made him lose out totally.
It’s has become a convention among the second term governors to anoint their successors. The Benue State governor did the same thing and endorsed the gubernatorial candidate of the PDP.
However, the All Progressives Congress candidate Father Hyacinth Alia scored 473,933 votes to clearly beat the Samuel Ortom’s endorsed Titus Uba, who was left with 223,913 votes.
That’s the last straw that broke the Benue State governor’s back. He engaged in treachery within the party. Now he has to stay with the repercussions.
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