By Sunday Iduh
A delegation from Kwande and Ushongo Local Government Areas of Benue State have thrown their weight behind Governor Samuel Ortom and pledged continued allegiance to the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state.
The delegation made their stand known Wednesday when they visited Governor Samuel Ortom at the Benue Peoples House, Makurdi.
The visit by the delegation of Kwande and Ushongo Local Government Areas is coming on the heels of grievances by some aspirants of some elective positions on the platform of the PDP from the axis following the outcome of the consensus arrangements.
The former Chief of Staff to the Governor, Terwase Orbunde, the former Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Tahav Agerzua and others allegedly defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as a result of their discontentment.
Speaking during the event, a political leader from the area, Atsaga Anemba and the Council Chairman of Ushongo Local Government Council, Joseph Asawa maintained that Kwande and Ushongo people are not in agreement with the decision of the defectors, hence the visit to intimate him.
Responding, Governor Samuel Ortom, who expressed appreciation to the people for the allegiance, assured them of his continuous support.
The Chief of Staff to the governor, Terlumun Nyitse, spoke on his behalf. He said, “governor appreciates the people of Kwande-Ushongo who have come to show their solidarity. He is quite pleased with their decision to come and the stand they have taken
“We are in a democracy and everyone has right of choice, a right to belong to any group or political parties. So, the issue of one moving to a political party is not strange in Nigeria and even in Benue State.
“What was strange was the attitude that was put forward by the former Chief of Staff which warranted his people to disassociate themselves from his actions and to openly condemn his actions.
“Having worked with the governor for almost seven years, and haven been his close ally for many years, nearly two decades, if there were issues, they would have resolved those issues within themselves rather than to go out to lay some claims that are nebulous and can hardly be proven.
“However, the Governor has urged the people of Kwande-Ushongo to pray for his former Chief of Staff to go back to the assignment that God gave him. Off course, he did not tell us or the people the kind of assignment that God gave Terwase Orbunde. He said that his former Chief of Staff knows the assignment that God gave him and he also knows the assignment.
“The governor said he has urged him to go back to that assignment and handle it, and wait for the time when God will elevate him to what he wants to be.
“I think what the people of Kwande-Ushongo have done is just right. Because it appears that he was acting their script. They have come out clearly to say that they are not in tandem with him, they are not in support of what he has done.
“The Ward Chairman of the Ward where the former Chief of Staff comes from, Mbakacha Council ward has said that nobody in that council ward was going to where the former Chief of Staff is moving to, and he was on his own.”