Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom has thrown his weight behind the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi in the forthcoming presidential elections.
This comes barely 48 hours after former President Olusegun Obasanjo released a six-page letter endorsing the former Anambra State governor.
Ortom is one of five aggrieved governors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) known as the G5 or Integrity Group. Others are Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia).
The governors have refrained from campaigning for the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar amid opposition to the party’s National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu coming from the same region as the standard bearer.
Ortom’s Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Terver Akase, in a statement on Tuesday, said the governor “strongly recommends Peter Obi to Nigerians as the man who has the capacity to effectively tackle the economic, security and other challenges facing the country.”
Akase noted that the governor is convinced that Obi “possesses the qualities of a leader who will be a true President of this country by guaranteeing justice, equity and fairness for all Nigerians.
Ortom said the President that Nigeria needs at this “challenging time” in its history is one who understands the urgent need to unite the people and speedily initiate policies and actions to redirect the ship of the nation on the path of growth and development.
According to him, Peter Obi has all those qualities.