Former Senate President, Senator David Mark, has urged the people of Agatu to support the reelection bid of Governor Samuel Ortom in 2019, saying God will not forgive them if they failed to do so considering his struggle for the survival of the state.
Senator Mark who made the call in Obagaji, Agatu Local Government Area during the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, campaign tour of the Benue south urged all the people of the zone to vote for all PDP candidate beginning with the president Atiku Abubakar.
He noted that Governor Ortom has put his life on the line by signing the Open Grazing Prohibition and Ranches Establishment Law 2017, stressing that he stood in the gap for them and urged them to reciprocate the good gesture by ensuring that no vote goes outside the PDP in the forthcoming elections.
Senator Mark stated that the Idoma nation has no option other than the PDP, even as he charged the traditional rulers to ensure that no single vote goes to another party emphasising that their votes should be protected as the ruling APC was planning to rig the elections.
Governor Ortom while soliciting support and royal blessings from the traditional rulers, acknowledged their role in promoting peace and development of the community and assured them that an amendment to the local government and Chieftaincy Law was being done to accommodate tax collectors.
The Governor noted that as traditional rulers, the law does not permit them to be involved in partisan politics but that they have the right to vote candidates of their choice.
He stated that apart from the completed and ongoing infrastructural projects in the area, more dividends would be provided for people of the area if he was re-elected.
Second class chief of Agatu, Dr. Godwin Onah, said the Agatu traditional council had not only given their royal blessings to the Governor but also wished him resounding victory at the polls.
The paramount ruler also listed the Ranching Law, completion of the Obagaji- Oshigbudu road and award of contract for the construction of Obagaji- Okokolo- Agagbe road, provision of garri processing industry, extension of electricity from Oshigbudu to Ogule, construction of primary schools in all the council wards of the local government and employment of various sons and daughters of Agatu among others as reasons for their support for the Governor.
