After Obasanjo’s Revelation, Atiku Can’t Label Me Corrupt – Ortom

By Sola Omoniyi, Lagos

The immediate-past governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has stated that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the 2023 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, lacks the moral grounds to accuse him of corruption after what former President Olusegun Obasanjo had written about him (Atiku).

Ortom described Atiku, who was the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last general elections, as the first presidential candidate in the country to be rejected by key party stakeholders.

The ex-Benue governor was reacting to a statement by Atiku’s media aide, Phrank Shaibu, accusing him and other G-5 governors of seeking favours from the ruling All Progressives Congress to evade prosecution.

Recall, Atiku’s aide had earlier declared that “Ortom was one of the worst governors in the history of Nigeria. His case file at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is bulky.

Responding to the statement, Ortom said, “Atiku is angry because Governor Ortom and his colleagues in the G-5 refused to be used by him as ‘Special Purpose Vehicles’ to circumvent and thwart the resolve of Nigerians to produce a President from the southern region.