Titus Zam, Ortom’s Senate Campaign Manager

By Kasper Mueter

It is now glaring that the Peoples Democratic Party candidate for Benue North West Senatorial District, Samuel Ortom will have a walkover at next year’s polls. This is because the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, APC has failed to present a match to the Governor for the Zone B Senate seat.

The man who should have posed the biggest challenge to Governor Ortom has instead assumed the role of his campaign manager. His name is Titus Zam. At every event that he speaks, he begins and ends his speeches with the name Samuel Ortom. He knows that he has nothing to offer the people, so he clings to the name Ortom like a bed bug does to a bed.

Zam sounds like an empty vessel. Like a gong, he makes the loudest noise, yet, has nothing to show for his brags and blusters. He has never told the good people of Zone B why they should vote for him. He rather asks them if they will vote for Governor Ortom.

Yesterday during the APC Youth Summit at City Bay in Makurdi, Zam was given the opportunity to address the gathering, but instead of trying to convince those present, he rather asked repeatedly, “Will you vote for Ortom in 2023?” The shock and confusion on the faces of delegates to the summit explained it all. Their candidate could not mention his name even once and didn’t ask them to campaign for him. In the entire speech that lasted a number of minutes, he called the name Ortom more than 20 times. It was that shameful. But worse still was the fact that he didn’t notice the disappointment on the faces of his listeners. Many of them were yawning by the time he rounded off his boring, mind-numbing and uninspiring address.

Zam does not know why he wants to go to the Senate. That’s the summary of his candidacy. In the last couple of months, he has campaigned for Ortom more than anyone else. But who will be surprised? He is only back to his familiar beat of praising Governor Ortom. Between August 2015 and July 2018, Zam sang the name Samuel Ortom in high praise on radio stations and other platforms. He often said that the Governor is the best thing that has ever happened to Benue State.

When he ran for the 2019 governorship election, Zam had nothing to tell the people. His campaign blueprint was Samuel Ortom. It is only a repeat of that outing nearly four years ago that we are witnessing now. But that is the case with all APC candidates in Benue State. No substance. All they offer is either choruses of profane songs or outright insults of their opponents.