• Sponsors Jime as successor

By SUNDAY ODIBASHI

The seemingly entrenched godfather of Benue politics, Senator George Akume, former Governor of the state, has been on duty in the preparations for the 2019 general elections. Unlike in 2015 when he single-handedly gave the governorship ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Senator has developed a new template to unseat Ortom, whom he has been having running battles with in the past one year.

National Daily gathered that Akume is sponsoring Emmanuel Jime, the man who the APC governorship ticket was taken away from and given to Ortom. Jime had proceeded to court to challenge the emergence of Ortom as APC candidate but stepped down his case after consultations and reconciliations.

The discordant relations between Ortom and Akume who insisted on sustaining his godfather status and dictating the decision on who gets what, when and how from the Benue Government, culminated to the dissolution of the State Executive Council by Governor Ortom to weed out all representatives and loyalists of Akume from the Benue cabinet.

Akume, National Daily gathered, had infiltrated APC leaders in the State Executive Council, and has firm control of the state party that would coordinate the primary election for the election of candidates for the 2019 general elections. The Senator was said to have ensured a structure that would deny Ortom APC ticket in 2019. Thus, Ortom has sensed the potential danger, and declared that he has been issued red card in Benue APC, and needs to search for a new political platform that would guarantee he gets ticket for re-election for a second term in 2019.

The governor has since been engaged in consultations and negotiations for defection even before he revealed his intention to dump the APC at the weekend. The message is clear that Akume has anointed Emmanuel Jime for the APC governorship ticket for 2019 and the door had been shut against Ortom who is desirous for a second tenure despite his performance dossier and challenges in the first tenure.