Nigerians must have a “viable alternative to APC in 2023”, says Gov. Ortom

Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State has advised Nigerians to have a viable alternative to the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the 2023 general elections approach, noting that ruling APC has performed “abysmally” in the past seven years.

According to a statement issued on Tuesday by Nathaniel Ikyur, chief press secretary to Ortom, the governor said the APC will lose the 2023 election if it is bereft of interference from state actors.

“They’ve (APC) kept their promise to take Nigeria from top to bottom. They have taken our country beneath the bottom. It’s a big shame. For us in the PDP, the onus rests on us to mend the cracks in our party. No external influence will do that for us. By the grace of God, we will reach a successful end so that we can move on,” he said.

“So long as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is as professional and neutral as it was in Osun and Ekiti states, I don’t see the APC winning the elections.

“Having been in politics from the grassroots, the state and national levels for over 40 years now, there’s no magic the APC can conjure to win in 2023. Some of their leaders who think they are powerful, have indirectly visited wickedness on the generality of our people in the name of being close to Aso Rock.”

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Ortom said the APC is losing members across the country, noting that “with the kind of political traffic we are witnessing across the country from the APC to PDP, there is general disenchantment with the APC”.

“It’s all over, Cross River, Rivers, everywhere. The APC government has unwittingly precipitated a huge lacuna, a very big gap, complete disconnect, with the people,” he added.

The Benue governor alleged that some members of the APC prevailed over the federal government not to release funds to his state to pay salaries and pensions.

“We applied for a bailout of N42 billion from the federal government to enable us to offset long-standing arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuities. Some of these people scrambled to the state house to tell the president not to release the funds even after approval, so that we will not take the credit for solving the age-long problem. This is the kind of mean-spirited attitude APC is inflicting on our people,” he said.