Who Is Clapping For Governor Ortom?

By Comfort Obi

Governor Samuel Ortom has just carried out his final, and most irresponsible action as the Governor of Benue State. He called a confirmed, executed, Coupist a hero. He did not  stop at that. He proceeded to immortalize him. He praised him for his good works. He praised him for being a leader in one of the most bloody coup d’etats in the Country. He regretted the failure of the Coup. Ortom wished the Coup had succeeded.

In that  aborted Coup, 42 officers and men were executed. A part of the Country was excised from Nigeria, just like that. And Governor Ortom, in one mad moment of abuse of power, called the man who read the Coup speech a hero, a great son of Benue State. He clapped for the man. But who is clapping for Ortom?

For months, nobody has clapped for this Governor.  For that long, he has done nothing for anybody to be proud of. For this long, Ortom’s value has been reduced to a nuisance value. For that long, he did nothing for the State and its people. All he did was to tag along his fellow Governor, Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, younger than him in age,  like an Orderly, and went wherever Wike went. It is one of the reasons Ortom is where he is where he is today. Confused. Looking for where to perch.

Ortom belongs to the group of Governors who became popular, no, I take that back, who became known by playing to the gallery. By being talkative. And garrulous. And not surprisingly, on May 29, 2023, Ortom will go out of the Government House, Makurdi, empty handed. He will leave, clothed in  failure.  Nothing cheery to remember him by. But he has a consolation.

His wealth did not diminish.

A very wealthy man, by his account, before he became a Governor, Ortom did not come out of Government House, Makurdi, poorer than he was, financially. My guess is he came out richer – what with free food, free everything, not to talk of security votes. But aside from that, and his CV to which he would add “former Governor”, what else did Ortom gain politically?

On all fronts, Ortom lost.

He was unable to install his successor as Governor. The very sellable Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi, who he claimed he backed in the Presidential election, lost in his State because Ortom neither had the muscle, nor the popularity to push votes his way. He pushed his Party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to its most disastrous outing in the State. And the worst: Ortom was roundly defeated in his bid to become a Senator and represent his people at the National Assembly. When a Governor fails to even win in his Senatorial Zone, in an election to represent his own people at the Senate, the conclusion can only be that the Governor was a no-no in both governance and human relations. That’s Ortom.

I first marked Ortom as a no-no over his choice of words when he dumped the  PDP, for the All Progressives Congress, APC in 2015. Before then, I was full of admiration for him. I liked his grass to grace story – a story he told a number of times. He talked of his struggles to find a place under the sun. He was a motor boy, he said. He was a motor park tout, he added. Unlike a number of people, including some of his colleagues, he was not ashamed of his background. He made no false claims to being born with a silver spoon. Not even with a wooden spoon. So, I admired him.

When there were doubts and jabs over the Dr. he prefixes  his name with, I defended him robustly. And, why not? Isn’t it that which many illiterates, many money-miss-road prefix their names with? And, in his case, he said he earned it!

But I digress.

So, I was full of admiration for this Governor. But  Ortom lost it by the irresponsible statement he made when he dumped the PDP.  A National Officer of the Party at the time who aspired, but failed to pick the Governorship ticket of PDP Benue State, Ortom said, on dumping the Party to pick the APC ticket, that “I know how they (PDP) win elections, the method they use.” Obviously referring to rigging, Ortom meant that he was a participant in the unwholesome business, and kept quiet till he fell out with the Party. A lucky guy,  perhaps, using same method which he had mastered, he won the Governorship election under the APC.

But Ortom soon fell out with the APC and his political godfather who gave him the APC ticket, former Governor George Akume, former Senator, and outgoing Minister for Special Duties.

Ortom claimed his problem with them was because of President Muhammadu Buhari’s silence over the gruesome killings of his people by, alleged, Fulani herdsmen.

On that, Ortom had my full sympathy and tears. But he spoilt it by his constant threats of war. He abandoned governance for the threats of war. Most times, I felt he spoke unstatesmanly. I felt he was caused more  tension than he looked for the solution. I felt, atimes, that he was playing to the gallery. Yes, his people were being killed, still sadly being killed, but he was so fixated on those he suspected were the culprits that most times, his choice of words rankled, and put even Security Agencies off. And atimes, too, he held a couple of innocent people responsible for the heinous crime,  even Security Agents, some of whom lost their lives in the condemnable, blood cuddling murders.

At a point, not a few people thought Ortom was beginning to play politics with the sad situation, especially, just before he got his second term under the PDP where he shamelessly went back to. Each time he spoke, he presented himself as the only messiah of the people. The only person who could willingly die for his people. Not true. Many felt his eyes were on his re-election bid. But, perhaps, not, because, on winning, Ortom became more aggressive than ever in his attacks on everybody, almost.

He saw wolves everywhere. The drama over the alleged assassination attempt on him in his farm stood out. It was surprising that nobody was injured; that Ortom’s Security personnel were so “useless”, they arrested nobody; they shot at nobody; and till date, nobody has been arrested. Ortom said he did an Usain Bolt, along with his many Security Aides. He cursed the APC-led  Federal Government no end.

But soon, Ortom turned against his Party, the one returned to – the PDP. In connivance with four of his Governor- colleagues – Nyesom Wike, Rivers State, Okezie Ikpeazu, Abia, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu, Seyi Makinde, Oyo –  the PDP was destroyed. Aside from Wike, Ortom was the most talkative, the most vocal, the most garrulous of the G5 Governors. He is, reportedly, the leader of the Group. Not Wike. Wike was, according to reports, financier and Spokesperson. With Ortom as the  leader, it is no wonder the Group scattered so easily after the General Elections, where three of them – Ortom, Ikpeazu, Ugwuanyi – were disgraced by their people. They performed badly, and lost their Senatorial bids. With a leader like Ortom, it is no wonder the Group was not able to agree on a particular Presidential Candidate, and it became to “Your Tents O Israel.”  It is no wonder the Group lost relevance thereafter.

Ortom, inspite of his gra-,gra and foul mouthedness, was not able to safeguard his people. In his Senatorial Zone in particular, Ortom will be remembered for his role in the removal of his kinsman, Dr Iyorchia Ayu, as the National Chairman of the PDP.

Benue people refused to clap for him for that inexplicable action. But Ortom has now upped the ante of his bad behavior.

A few days to the end of his tenure as Governor, Ortom decided to shock his people and other Nigerians. He did the unbelievable. In the name of Benue State, Ortom declared a coupist a hero, Benue State’s hero

Late Major Gideon Orkar is the guy after Ortom’s heart. He is, according to Ortom, Benue State’s hero.

For the records, Orkar was the guy who siezed Radio Nigeria in Lagos, and announced a Coup plot. On that April 22, 1990, Orkar sauntered into the Studios of Radio Nigeria, held staff hostage, traumatized them, and announced a Coup plot to overthrow the Military Regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. He also excised some parts of Nigeria from Nigeria.

That aborted Coup went down in the history of Coups in Nigeria as one of the most bloody. 42 Officers and men, including Orkar, who was arrested two days after the Coup, were executed, perhaps some, innocently.

What pushed Ortom to proclaim Major Orkar a hero? What did he want to gain? What point did he want make? Many think he was hitting at the Fulani, those Orkar excised from Nigeria in his Coup speech, whose herders Ortom holds responsible for the rivers of blood  in his State. Perhaps.

But by  calling Orkar a hero, and naming a-9.7 km Road after him, Governor Ortom has not solved the problem. Instead, he has  endorsed violent Coup d’etats. He has peed on the graves of those who died innocently in that  Coup.  And he did it at the wrong time.

With a Country so tensed up one could cut the tension with a knife, Ortom is telling the youths that it is okay to behave like Orkar.  Who is clapping for Ortom?

My opinion is that Ortom just wanted to be relevant, the relevance he has since lost. He lost it when he was not able to install his successor in office.  He lost it when his Senatorial Zone rejected his representation at the Senate.

On Wednesday, 14th May, 2023, Ortom, in a bid to look for some relevance,  tried to curry the favour of President-elect, Bola Tinubu. On a national television,  he  announced  that he would work for Tinubu’s success. How? When did that begin? In case he has forgotten, Tinubu is now the authentic National leader of the APC, a Party he thrashed with his tongue for over five years. What will Ortom bring to the table?

And look at this: On the one hand, Ortom is calling a Coupist a hero. On the other hand, he wants to participate in a Civilian regime. How contradictory can one be?

Ortom should be kept at arms length by any Government. He should go back to his house and bemoan his fate, a fate he brought upon himself.

Finally, the incoming Governor of Benue State, a Catholic Priest, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia, should reverse Ortom’s mortalization of Orkar. It is a sacrilege, almost. Orkar should be allowed to sort himself out before God. And, since  Ortom is so enamored with him, the Governor is free to name his own personal house in Makurdi, or Abuja, after Orkar. Nobody will worry. Or ask questions. It will be his business, entirely.

Obi is the Editor-in-Chief/CEO of The Source (Magazine), https://thesourceng.com.  Email: [email protected], [email protected]