Former Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom<\/strong>, has denied rumours of his defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress, describing the reports as false, mischievous, and politically motivated.<\/p>\n In a statement on Monday issued by his Media Adviser, Terver Akase, Ortom said the claims were a deliberate fabrication by political opponents unnerved by his continued influence in Benue politics.<\/p>\n \u201cThe report is entirely false and misleading. It exists only in the imagination of its promoters,\u201d<\/em> the statement said.<\/p>\n The former governor alleged that desperate elements went as far as forging an APC membership card with his name and circulating it online in a bid to lend credibility to the claim.<\/p>\n \u201cThis act is not only irresponsible but also exposes the depth of desperation among those behind it,\u201d<\/em> Ortom said.<\/p>\n He described the move as the handiwork of individuals allegedly sponsored by political adversaries who are unsettled by his continued relevance within the Peoples Democratic Party and in Benue at large.<\/p>\n Ortom reaffirmed his unwavering commitment to the PDP, declaring that he remains a \u201cproud, committed, and influential member\u201d of the party.<\/p>\n He also reiterated his leadership status within the opposition party in the state and at the national level.<\/p>\n \u201cI remain the leader of the PDP in Benue State and a respected member of the party\u2019s Board of Trustees,\u201d<\/em> the statement added.<\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Former Benue State Governor, Samuel Ortom, has denied rumours of his defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress, describing the reports as false, mischievous, and politically motivated. In a statement on Monday issued by his Media Adviser, Terver Akase, Ortom said the claims were a deliberate fabrication by political opponents unnerved by his continued influence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":241357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[287,251,522],"class_list":["post-241356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-apc","tag-pdp","tag-samuel-ortom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Governor-Samuel-Ortom.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241356\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abiaradiostations.com.ng\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}