Endorsement of Orbunde's guber aspiration is our right - Mata PDP chieftains

By Our Reporter

Elder Namnyi Ikyase said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains in Mata were taken aback when they read a statement signed by Mr Bemgba Iortyom, the PDP Publicity Secretary in Benue, warning groups, including theirs, to steer clear of endorsements.

This is contained in a statement signed by Ikyase, the spokesman of the group and issued on Friday in Makurdi. 

Ikyase explained that according to Wikipedia, "a political endorsement is a public declaration of one's personal or group support of a candidate for elected office". 

"Iortyom at his level ought to know that endorsement is part and parcel of the democratic process.

"That explains why he could not cite any part of the PDP constitution, guideline or code of conduct that our endorsement of Honorable Terwase Orbunde had breached.

"Moreover, no part of the document he complained about hinted, even vaguely, that the endorsement was done on behalf of the formal structure of the PDP at the ward, local government or state level. 

"The endorsement was purely the expression of our personal and group's support for the governorship ambition of Honourable Terwase Orbunde. 

"We have the Constitutional right of freedom of association and that of expression," it stated.

He further stated that Iortyom's statement had the subtitle, "No such body in existence in Benue PDP", stressing that he was referring to the Mata PDP Grassroot Chieftains.

He explained that Iortyom is a son of Mata  from Mbagba, one of the five council wards that make up the State constituency. 

"He personally knows all the five people who came for the Orbunde's  endorsement from his ward and most of the 20 from the other four wards. 

"He cannot, in good conscience, say that such a group is non-existent. 

"Our group does not need to be a standing or registered one, it was formed for the specified purpose. 

"The endorsement document he complained about bears the photographs and names of all of us who signed. 

"The fact that all of us who signed are card carrying members of the PDP from the five council wards of Mata State Constituency remains incontrovertible.

"Even if we had breached any party statute, our thinking is that the matter could have been resolved in-house without resorting to the press," the statement stated.