Introduction
On Saturday, March 20, 2021, Samuel Ioraer Ortom, politician, farmer, former Minister of State for Trade and Investment, and now Governor of Benue escaped death by whiskers when assailants suspected to be herders waylaid him on his way back from his farm. According to Ortom, about 15 herders who were dressed in black outfits ambushed him and his security personnel. In his words “…. I went to my farm along Gboko road. And, on our way back, we started hearing some gunshots and we discovered people who were dressed in black, and from experience, we now discovered that these are Fulani militias and I did not want to take things for granted because, few days ago, the media were awash with statements from MACBAN who met in Yola, the same place they met in 2016 where they decided that they will take Nigeria, and that every other person is a slave; that was when they started infiltrating the entire country”.
Happy Birthday His Excellency, The Man Who Never Backs Down!Â
By Ati Terkula Listen to article
Chief Dr. Samuel Ioraer Ortom, industrialist, farmer, businessman, politician, philanthropist, administrator and employer, was born on 23rd April, 1961 in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State.
He was enrolled into the St. John’s Primary School, Gboko in 1970 but moved to St. Catherine’s Primary School, Makurdi in 1974 where he completed primary education in 1976.
Chief Dr. Ortom was admitted into Idah Secondary Commercial College, Idah in Kogi State in 1976. He did two years in the school before his father’s retirement in 1979 brought an abrupt end to his dream of completing formal secondary school education on account of inability to pay school fees. Shortly before this happened, he had given his life to Jesus Christ.
Paul Mumeh
Hate or love him, what has remained incontrovertible since his election as Governor of Benue State in 2015 is that Dr. Samuel Ioraer Ortom has provided leadership albeit cohesion in the State. His posture or physique does not present him as a warlord but like a leader whose domain is constantly under threat of invaders, he has two options ; either to throw his hands up in surrender or confront the invaders for his People’s preservation. Unarguably, Governor Ortom opted for the latter to wit; swim to safety with his people.
Needless to recap the circumstances that necessitated his jumping ship from the then octopus party; the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and back to the PDP but suffice it to submit that Ortom is politically savvy. He possesses the mental capacity to read the political barometer correctly.
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Governors’ Forum on Thursday ruled out the defection of any of its members to the All Progressives Congress, APC.
There has been defection rumour linking the PDP governors, with the APC leadership coming up at several points to claim that many PDP governors were on their way to the party.
DAILY POST reports that ever since Governor David Umahi of Ebonyi State left the PDP, the ruling party had continued to boast that one or two more PDP governors from the South-East would soon join its fold. Other governors, Bala Muhammed of Bauchi have also been named severally.