A coalition of Benue youths comprising of over forty groups have barricaded the gate of the government house in Makurdi and prevented Governor Samuel Ortom from attending his scheduled meeting with the national leadership of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Abuja.
The youths numbering over two thousand stormed government house as early as 6:30 am and threatened to vote the governor out of power in 2019 if he insists on attending the Abuja meeting which is to be presided over by the party’s National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole today.
To underscore their anger, the youths who carried different placards, angrily removed the APC flag on the Governor’s vehicle and asked him to go back to government house, an order which was obliged by the governor’s driver.
Some of the placards read: “Ortom don’t go back to APC”, “We don’t have land to donate for ranching”, “APC is Miyetti party”, “Our farms are not for cows”, “You must leave APC”, “Ortom is our party”, and “2019: On Ortom we stand” among others.
Spokesmen of the groups, Mr. Terrence Kuanum, and Pastor Dave Ogbole advised the governor not to make the trip for further discussions with the APC leadership on his membership of the party, but to rather look for an alternative platform.
Governor Ortom who was already on his way to Abuja for the meeting with the APC leaders, pleaded with the youths to allow him attend the meeting assuring that their interest would be protected.
The youths, however, refused, insisting that the only option available to him was for the Governor to make a UK turn which he immediately succumbed to and turned back with his entourage back into the government house.
