Former Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has stated that he has no regrets about opposing former Vice President Atiku Abubakar during the 2023 presidential election, despite Atiku being the presidential candidate of his own party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Speaking on Politics Today, a programme aired on Channels Television on Monday, Ortom said, “I did not hide it. I have no regret.”
Ortom was one of the five PDP governors—collectively known as the G5—who publicly rejected Atiku as the PDP’s candidate and instead supported Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election.
He maintained that his actions did not constitute betrayal.
“Which betrayal?” he asked. “Pursuing my interest and the interest of my people? The interest of my people is that you provide what they want.
“If you ask me, politics is about doing what your people want—not merely serving your own interests.
“Politics is a game of interest. If someone is working against my interest and that of my people, I must resist it.”
Ortom further argued that it was unreasonable for another northerner to succeed Muhammadu Buhari after his eight-year presidency.
“We were advocating for equity, fairness, and justice,” he said. “How can one justify a situation where a northerner ruled for eight years, and then another northerner from the same ethnic group takes over for another four or eight years? Our democracy hasn’t matured to that point.
“We believed in power rotation between North and South. It is part of the country’s unwritten rules. That’s why we supported a southern presidential candidate.”