The governor of Benue, Samuel Ortom, has stated that he is willing to give up his senatorial candidacy for Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate (LP).

Ortom, who is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), is contesting for Benue’s northwest senatorial seat.

He is also a member of a group of five PDP governors at odds with the party’s national leadership.

Monday, Ortom told members of the Igbo community in Benue that supporting the LP candidate in advance of the election is “a chance that should not be squandered.”

“For me, it’s not even that I’m contesting an election. Yes, the form was bought for me by the people of Benue State. I’ve gone round, they have accepted that they will vote me,” he said.

“But if I’m to sacrifice my senatorial ambition for Peter Obi to win, so shall it be. I know that if [any group of] people are connected in this world, they are the Igbo. This is the opportunity you have to say that an Igbo man from the South East is president.

“So, let us not miss this opportunity that God himself is providing. The youth have told me, my own people have told me – stakeholders here, traditional rulers, party people across party lines. Obi’s matter is not about APC or PDP or SDP or any other party. It’s about Nigeria.

“That is why when I hear some prominent Igbo personalities castigating Peter Obi for contesting the election – is it not you people that have been saying you have been marginalised since after the war?

“The opportunity has come today and you’re still complaining. What do you want?! What are you looking for?

“The whole country – north, south, east, and west are saying Peter Obi and you hear some people say ‘We don’t want it’. Haba! Those people should be outcasts.”

This comes days after the Benue governor endorsed the presidential bid of Obi at a town hall meeting in Makurdi.

Ortom had justified his vote for Obi by pointing to the inability of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) to address the needs of ordinary Nigerians.

YNaija