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There are indications that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is mobilising all its governors for a solidarity rally with Governor Samuel Ortom on Tuesday (today) in Makurdi, the Benue State capital
The PDP leadership met on Monday for several hours behind closed doors at the Legacy House in Abuja on the way forward in Benue.
Sources close to the party confirmed that the party’s leadership is mobilising all the PDP governors to Benue, to show solidarity with Ortom and send a message to the people of the state that the PDP is solidly behind them.
“The national chairman of the party has called on all the PDP governors to come to Benue tomorrow (today). The party insists that the governors should fly into Enugu or Abuja and move in a convoy to Benue so as to avoid a repeat of what happened to the Southern leaders who were denied access to the Air force base when they wanted to come to the state by air.
“The governors have been urged to come to Makurdi by road as the convoy of the eleven PDP governors will send shivers down the spines of the enemies of democracy.
“During the visit, the governors are expected to visit the Speaker of the House, visit some traditional institutions and leaders, and also visit the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp. This visit will be very remarkable and a morale booster to the governor, to assure him that he is not alone and that the party and the college of PDP governors are fully with him,” the source disclosed.
It was further gathered that the party’s leadership in the state has been asked to mobilise the youths and all party members to receive the August visitors. The party will also hold an emergency rally just as the visitors will make efforts to address dissenting voices in the party.
Ortom began a running battle with his former party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) following series of killings going on in the state. The governor had accused security agencies of working against him in securing the lives of the people, maintaining that the killings were carried out by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association. The governor also went against the wishes of the government and signed an “Open grazing prohibition bill” which prohibited open grazing of livestock and made the establishment of ranches mandatory for all those engaging in animal husbandry.
The governor also alleged that the Miyetti Allah were responsible for the killings going on in the state and called for their arrest but the Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim Idris was of the view that the establishment of the “open grazing prohibition law” was responsible for the killings, calling on the state government to scrap the law.
During one of his visits to President Muhammadu Buhari on the killings in his state, the governor was advised by the President to tell his subjects to learn how to tolerate their neighbours, a statement that did not go down well with the governor.
