Gov. Gabriel Suswam of Benue on Tuesday condemned the defection of
the former Minister of State for Trade, Investment and Industries, Mr
Samuel Ortom, from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to All
Progressive Congress (APC).
Suswam, who was fielding questions
from State House correspondents in Abuja, frowned at those politicians
moving from one party to another after failing to secure party
nomination, saying such people had no principles and ideologies. According
to him, Ortom left the PDP unceremoniously despite the fact that he
participated in the ‘most transparent’ PDP gubernatorial primaries but
failed to secure the ticket.
“There is no conviction in ideology
and so, people just swing. They change party the way we change our under
garments and I find that very unfortunate. “My Minister has been a
great beneficiary of the PDP. And the most transparent primaries were
held in Benue, that is why no one is complaining about the primaries.
“They
just want position and once they do not get it they swing. So, I find
that very unfortunate. That is why we are having the problem we are
having with politics in Nigeria.
“The other parties just wait for
the other parties to conduct primaries so that when they have problem,
they will just take them in. “If we continue to practice politics
in that manner, I do not think that we can grow. We will not get
anywhere because there is no philosophy behind what we do. “People
just swing, we are just operating like pendulum and then, if it does
not work this way, there are people within this period that changed
party twice.
“If they don’t get nomination in PDP, they will move
to APC and if they do not get in APC, they will move to Labour, they go
to APGA or they go to Accord Party. I don’t see us growing in terms of
party democracy.”
According to him, this kind of politics comes
out of desperation for power, saying that it is out of desperation that
they move from one party to another. Suswam, who witnessed the
inauguration of the Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP)
Fund for Agricultural Finance in Nigeria (FAFIN) by President Goodluck
Jonathan, said Benue had already keyed into the programmes through the
disbursement of N1billion to farmers in the state.
‘‘We also give
them another N500 million for people to be able to operate small
agro-based cottage industry and we have one gentle man who is now
exporting fish to the United States of America and Europe. ‘‘We
also have young girls who are exporting some poultry products out of the
country. At the state level, we have established the biggest piggery
farm in the entire West Africa and the biggest lab is in Benue.
The testimonies we just heard will encourage youths, so I am happy that the President is doing this.... (NAN)
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