Benue State Governor and member of G5, Samuel Ortom has disclosed that the group’s preferred candidate in the presidential election was Peter Obi of the Labour Party before its supposed fall.
Recall that G5 came up as a force against the emergence of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar as the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s flagbearer chaired by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
This was because the party’s original plan was to allow a southerner to emerge as candidate in the interest of fairness and equity.
Meanwhile, narrating his side of the story, Ortom insisted that Wike met with Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress in the presidential race behind their back.
For this reason, the governor uphold that Wike had turned his enemy politically even though they remained friends.
Ortom said:
“Wike is my friend and will always be my friend but we don’t agree politically anymore. We agreed to support Peter Obi but he went and met with Tinubu behind us.
“He is only deceiving Tinubu because Rivers State will never leave Peter Obi to vote for Bola Tinubu. Atiku will even get more votes than Tinubu in Rivers State.
“Wike refused to support Bola Tinubu openly because he knows that Rivers people will turn against him.
“Wike believed that Buhari would rig election for Tinubu but he can see clearly now that things are going against him.
“We know Peter Obi is popular in both Rivers State and Benue State. Even if I refuse to support Peter Obi today, he will still win Benue State.
“I can bet you; the only state Bola Tinubu will win among the states of G5 governors is Oyo State.”
However, other members of G5 including the governors of Oyo, Abia, and Enugu States were yet to give their side of the story.
