Former Benue State governor, Dr. Samuel Ortom, says he lent his vehicle to Peter Obi during the Nigeria Democratic Congress’ presidential candidate’s recent visit to Benue, saying doing the opposite would have been “petty” and unbecoming of a former governor.
Ortom, through his media aide, Terver Akase, said he only extended a courtesy to Obi, who visited Benue as part of plans to meet victims and families affected by the June 2025 massacre in Yelewata.
He made the clarification after the Benue State Government accused him of facilitating Obi’s visit, questioning why he would provide transportation for a presidential candidate while publicly backing President Bola Tinubu for the 2027 election.
The controversy followed Obi’s visit to Makurdi last Tuesday, when his planned movement to Yelewata was disrupted after youths reportedly blocked his convoy around Gyado Villa, a few kilometres from the airport.
Obi had intended to proceed from Makurdi to Yelwata for a condolence visit to families of victims of the deadly attack, but the development prevented the visit from going ahead as planned.
Following the incident, Governor Hyacinth Alia’s Chief Press Secretary, Kula Tersoo, accused Ortom of playing a role in arranging the visit by the former Anambra State governor.
Tersoo said the state government’s investigation had linked the vehicle used to transport Obi from the Makurdi Airport to Ortom.
He identified the vehicle as a Toyota Land Cruiser with registration number ABUJA: GWA 608 BT and said a check of Federal Road Safety Corps records showed that it was registered in Ortom’s name and linked to his Judges Quarters address in Makurdi.
The governor’s aide subsequently questioned the decision of a politician supporting Tinubu to make his vehicle available to Obi, suggesting that the gesture raised questions about Ortom’s actual political allegiance ahead of the 2027 election.
But Ortom rejected the suggestion that lending his vehicle to Obi amounted to political collaboration, arguing that the former governor and presidential candidate deserved basic courtesy during his visit to Benue.
Ortom said, “Peter Obi is a former governor, a presidential candidate and one of the most prominent political figures in the country. Imagine how it would have sounded if Chief Ortom had refused to assist him with transportation while he was in Benue on a humanitarian mission to visit internally displaced persons.
“Such a refusal would rightly have been viewed as petty, inhospitable and beneath the dignity of a former governor. Indeed, extending such a courtesy should ordinarily have been the responsibility of the Benue State Government itself, given the status of the visitor.”
The former governor also criticised the attempt to attach political motives to the gesture, describing the move as “ridiculous and shameful.”
He said, “It is therefore both ridiculous and shameful for anyone to attempt to criminalise or politicise the simple act of making a vehicle available to a fellow Nigerian leader.”
Ortom accused the Alia administration of creating controversy around what he described as a humane and statesmanlike act.
“That the Alia administration is now trying to make a controversy out of what was merely a humane, courteous and statesmanlike gesture exposes the poverty of its argument and the desperation behind its propaganda,” he said.
He maintained that extending courtesies across political lines should not be interpreted as evidence of political disloyalty, adding that the attempt to portray his action as wrongdoing was “intellectually dishonest and politically immature.”
Ortom also dismissed the allegation that he was being “double-faced”, describing the claim as laughable.
He stated that although he supported Obi during the 2023 presidential election, he had since publicly declared his support for Tinubu, insisting that his current political position was not inconsistent with his decision to assist Obi during the Benue visit.
