The Governor of Benue State and a member of the G-5 group in the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), Samuel Ortom, yesterday received his counterpart from Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal with the aim to resolve the internal crisis rocking the party.
Africa Today News, New York reports that Governor Tambuwal is the Director-General of the campaign committee of the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Governor Ortom, believed to be the deputy Chairman of of the G5 governors known as the Integrity Group insisted that the leadership of the party had failed.
While stating that the meeting was at the instance of his Sokoto counterpart, he said arrogance of the party leadership aggravated the crisis in the party.
Ortom said, ‘This meeting is at his (Tambuwal) instance. We have discussed quite a number of issues including the division in the PDP; the G-5 which I am a member. He is here principally to see how we can team up and work for together as a party.
‘I have told him he is welcomed, we are together, we are members of the PDP. But I have said that the leaderdhip of this party have failed to take advantage of the challenges of the party and make it stronger.
‘Right from when we held our convention, instead of the leadership deploying its internal dispute resolution mechanism to look at the grievances that arose as a result of the dispute that arose from the primary, no matter how stupid they were, they have failed to do this.
‘Rather, it is arrogance, nonchalant attitude; and nobody has cared to reach out to us even when we voiced out that things were not going on well’.
Ortom commended the visit of his counterpart and expressed optimism that the crisis will soon be resolved if the group heed his advice.
‘And we have discussed on my opinion on how I think this matter can be resolved. And I believe that as a leader and the DG of the campaign, he would do the needful because I am not alone. Talking to me alone will not solve the problem but reaching out to the others. I believe he will do the needful to pull the party together.
Tambuwal said that work was in progress towards resolving the crisis.
While stating that dispute was not alien to group or family, Tambuwal stated that efforts were on to ensure that the crisis was resolved.