Former Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has explained why he provided his vehicle to the presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress, Peter Obi, during the latter’s visit to the state last Tuesday.
Speaking through his media aide, Terver Akase, Ortom said it would have been petty for him to decline to assist Obi with transportation. He was reacting to accusations by the Benue State Government that he facilitated Obi’s visit.
Ortom described the attempt to criminalise or politicise the act of making a vehicle available to a fellow Nigerian leader as both ridiculous and shameful. He noted that Peter Obi is a former governor, a presidential candidate and one of the most prominent political figures in the country. Refusing to assist him while he was in Benue on a humanitarian mission to visit internally displaced persons, Ortom argued, would rightly have been viewed as petty, inhospitable and beneath the dignity of a former governor. Extending such a courtesy, he added, should ordinarily have been the responsibility of the Benue State Government itself, given the status of the visitor.
He said the Alia administration’s effort to turn a humane, courteous and statesmanlike gesture into a controversy exposes the poverty of its argument and the desperation behind its propaganda. In other climes, he noted, leaders are commended for extending courtesies across political divides rather than vilified for doing so. The attempt to portray an act of hospitality as evidence of wrongdoing, he maintained, is both intellectually dishonest and politically immature.
On the allegation that he was being double-faced, Ortom described it as laughable. He said he is a man of his word and would always stand by any candidate he publicly declared support for. He recalled that in 2023 he publicly declared support for Obi but has since declared support for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Obi’s visit to Makurdi last Tuesday was intended to include a condolence trip to Yelewata for the families of victims of the June 2025 massacre. His convoy was blocked by some youths around Gyado Villa, a few kilometres from the airport. On Friday, Governor Hyacinth Alia, through his Chief Press Secretary, Tersoo Kula, accused Ortom of facilitating the visit and alleged that the former governor, while claiming support for President Tinubu, was actually working for Obi ahead of the 2027 elections. The state government said its investigation linked the Toyota Land Cruiser with registration number ABUJA: GWA 608 BT, used to convey Obi from the Makurdi Airport, to Ortom.
