Adedokun Waliyu 
Samuel Ortom, governor of Benue, has endorsed Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), ahead of the forthcoming election.
Ortom, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), announced the endorsement on Thursday at a town hall meeting in Makurdi, the state capital.
The governor cited the failure of the PDP and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to cater to Nigerians as the reason for his supporting Obi.
“This is not about party. I am not in Labour Party, but I am working for Peter Obi. Peter Obi will make sure that we sleep with our two eyes closed. These unnecessary killings that are going on in our country will stop,” Ortom said.
“Of the three presidential candidates, Peter Obi has the character and competence to lead Nigeria.
“We must, in this 2023, fashion a new Nigeria; Nigeria that will give the people equity, fairness, and justice.”
Ortom is part of a five-member group of PDP governors known as G-5 that is at loggerheads with the national leadership of the party.
The Obi endorsement also deepens a rift between Ortom and George Akume, former governor of Benue and the minister of special duties and intergovernmental affairs.
The rift between Ortom and Akume, an APC member, took another dimension in 2021 when the governor accused President Muhammadu Buhari of trying to “Fulanise” the country while reacting to the president’s approval of the recommendations of a committee to review 368 grazing reserves in 25 states.
