Thousands of youths and women marched in Benue State’s four LGAs of Makurdi, Guma, Gwer East, and Gwer West on Wednesday in support of Governor Samuel Ortom’s administration and his Senate bid in 2023.
The youths and women who gathered at the Benue Peoples House in Makurdi, the state capital, pledged to ensure that the governor is elected to represent the Benue North-West Senatorial district in the National Assembly in 2023.
In his remarks, the group’s leader, Engr Conrad Utaan, stated that they were firmly behind Ortom, emphasizing that the governor was the people’s hope.
“Your Excellency, our Governor and our Leader, we have come here not for politics, but to tell you that the entire MINDA, Makurdi, Guma, Gwer, Gwer-West, and by extension the entire Benue State is 100 percent behind you,” he said. We’ll be there for you. Your friends will become our friends, and your enemies will become our enemies. We will support anyone you support, and if you withdraw your support, we will withdraw our own.”
In his response, Governor Ortom stated that as the democratically elected Governor of Benue State, he would continue to do the will of the people.
He said;
I am a democratically elected Governor and since democracy is about the people, it is what you people want that I will do. I am encouraged and I want to assure you that by the grace of God, nothing will distract me from standing for the truth.
I appreciate all of you and I want to assure you that I will never leave you. As your leader, I will continue to support you. That you have shown support to me and I have a duty by the grace of Almighty God and by the powers conferred on me by the Almighty God, I will ensure that I support you.
He maintained that “democracy that is not anchored on the rule of law is doomed to fail as it is happening today in Nigeria.”
While thanking the youths for their solidarity and support, Governor Ortom assured them that nobody has the power to stop him from going to the Senate except God.
The power of sending me to the Senate belongs to you. It is not any individual. They have no power, they can just say whatever they want, but nobody can stop me, and by the grace of God, I will represent you people in the Senate, he emphasised.
Discussion about this post