Immediate past Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has explained why he provided a vehicle for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, during his visit to the state last Tuesday.
Ortom said he would have considered it petty to deny Obi assistance after the former Anambra State governor requested his support.
The explanation came amid criticism from the administration of Governor Hyacinth Alia over Obi’s visit to Benue, during which youths prevented him and his entourage from accessing Yelewata community.
Obi had visited the state to sympathise with residents affected by the June 2025 attack by suspected militant herdsmen.
The Benue State Government accused Obi of failing to notify Governor Alia before the visit.
Governor Alia’s Chief Press Secretary, Kula Tersoo, had also accused Ortom of political double-dealing, alleging that the former governor supported President Bola Tinubu’s re-election during the day but worked for Obi at night.
Tersoo cited Ortom’s provision of a vehicle for Obi as evidence of the allegation.
But Ortom dismissed the accusation, saying his decision to assist Obi did not amount to abandoning his political position.
According to him, “It would have been petty of me to deny Peter Obi such assistance after he requested it.”
Ortom said he had publicly supported Obi during the 2023 presidential election but had since declared his support for President Bola Tinubu.
“I am a man of my word. When I declare support for a candidate, I stand by that position,” he said, stressing that providing transportation for Obi during his visit was simply an act of courtesy.
Defending Ortom, the media consultant to the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in the state, Chief Mike Aondoakaa, Dr Terver Akase, said there was nothing improper about the former governor’s action.
Akase said Obi, as a former governor and presidential candidate, deserved to be treated with courtesy while visiting Benue on a humanitarian mission.
“If it were in another state, the governor would have provided vehicles and security personnel to an elder statesman like Peter Obi,” Akase said.
He described the attempt to turn Ortom’s gesture into a political controversy as unnecessary.
“Peter Obi is a former governor, a presidential candidate and one of the most prominent political figures in the country,” Akase said.
“Imagine how it would have sounded if Chief Ortom had refused to assist him with transportation while he was in Benue on a humanitarian mission to visit internally displaced persons.
“Such a refusal would rightly have been viewed as petty, inhospitable and beneath the dignity of a former governor.”
Akase argued that providing assistance across political lines should not be interpreted as evidence of political disloyalty.
He said the responsibility of providing transportation and security for Obi, given his status, should ordinarily have been handled by the state government.
Akase also alleged that Obi was prevented from reaching the IDP camp in Yelewata because his visit could expose what he described as the government’s claims that displaced persons had returned to their ancestral communities.
The controversy surrounding Obi’s visit has since triggered a political exchange between supporters of the Alia administration and allies of the former governor.
Ortom, however, maintained that his decision to provide logistics for Obi was based on courtesy and did not alter his current political support for Tinubu.
