Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has urged the national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to visit and beg Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State over perceived injustice meted out to him on the choice of the Vice Presidential candidate of the party.
The Governor, who gave the advice during an interview with Arise TV yesterday morning monitored in Makurdi, was reacting to claims by PDP members the Rivers Governor was snubbing calls from top members of the party who were trying to wade into the matter.
Governor Ortom said: “Why should they call Wike, why don’t you go to him. You frustrated him, Wike is a pillar of this party (PDP). When you are annoyed why would you answer? People ran away from this party (PDP) but Wike was on ground. He was the one who called me back to the PDP. Injustice was done to me in 2015, it was Wike that came here and convinced me to come back to the PDP.
“I came to PDP and we have been working and you did injustice to him and you think he would keep quiet. It is not fair. I believe in equity, fairness and justice, when you do that to others that is wrong, it is not correct. It is not enough to say that you put a call to him. It is an insult to put a call to him. The party’s leadership at the national level should go to Wike and appeal to him.
“Wike is a pillar of this party and everybody knows. Wike came second to Atiku, so Atiku should go to him. But it is unfair to say that you just put a call to Wike. I have no problem with Okowa, Okowa is my friend but Wike should have been consulted, he should have been spoken to, so that we can work closely. Everybody must not be in position, we cannot all be there but the truth is that Wike should have been consulted in the first place even before the announcement was made.
“Like I said 14 persons said Wike should be vice, if that was not going to work he would have been told, that please we can’t do this. Politics is a game of compromise, we discuss.
But it is wrong for anybody, and I stand to be contradicted, I don’t blame Wike, they are to be blamed. Those people who are in leadership should be blamed. They would have allowed an opportunity for Wike to also have first hand information because this is a man, tell me one person in PDP today that has built this party to where it is today. You come and just dismiss him with a wave of the hand, it is not right.”
