Samuel Ortom, the governor of Benue State, recently warned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) about the consequences of treating Nyesom Wike unfairly.
He attributed the poorly run presidential convention and failure to resolve the primary dispute to the party’s leadership.
At the Government House in Makurdi, the state capital, Ortom warned Benue PDP supporters that it is risky for the party to believe it can just dismiss Wike with a wave of the hand.
The governor asserted that Wike had experienced unfairness in the party and urged that the issue be resolved.
Ortom said: “The idea of dismissing people in politics that they do not matter is dangerous, because a single vote counts in politics.
“Injustice has been meted to Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers and it must be addressed. Justice must be served him.
“Wike stood and supported the party and he should be given due attention.”
Ortom claimed that the party’s leadership had not used its internal systems or dispute resolution abilities to handle the problem.
He added: “There is injustice that has been meted to my friend Wike because he stood for the party and supported it to the end.
“The leadership of the party should do the needful to resolve the problem and not to shove people around as though they are not relevant. Everyone is relevant and one vote can make you fail election.
“So, the leadership at the national level should do more. Politics is interest and what is the interest of out state and our people. What do I tell my people in Benue?”
“If you dismiss us that you don’t need us, I believe that will be dangerous. I want the party to address the injustices so that as we move into election, we will work together and we will have no crisis.”
The governor claimed that the purpose of the stakeholders’ gathering was to talk about the creation of the campaign council.
Ortom emphasized that PDP holds 26 of the 30 House of Assembly seats while noting that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had been demarketed in Benue.
He asked PDP members to be loyal to the group in order for it to succeed.
Members who were offended were urged by Ortom, he said: “PDP in Benue is united. All blackmail should cease in the state. Crisis not in Benue but at the national level.”
