Former Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has openly expressed regret over his decision to contest as the vice-presidential candidate alongside Alhaji Atiku Abubakar under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the 2023 presidential election.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television, Okowa admitted that his choice ran contrary to the prevailing sentiment among the people of Delta State.
“Even when we were campaigning, I realised our people were not interested in having another northerner come into power,” he stated.
He acknowledged that although the PDP had made the decision at the national level and he had already been nominated, he later came to see that it was out of alignment with the expectations of his constituents.
“But the decision had already been taken at the federal level by the party (PDP) and I had been nominated. Still, in retrospect, I now believe I should have gone with the will of my people,” he said.
In addition, Okowa responded to recent criticism from former Senate President, Bukola Saraki, over his move from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC), asserting that Saraki lacked the moral standing to speak on the matter.
“I did not expect that someone like Senator Bukola Saraki should be able to speak concerning me, because he knows that he had also moved to APC before and eventually returned,” Okowa said.
“So he has had movement to and fro. So, I don’t think that he has the moral right to even speak about my defection at all.”
He further explained that the decision to join the APC was not personal, but a strategic one reached after consultations with key political stakeholders in Delta State.
According to him, the PDP had become weakened by internal discord and lacked the vision required to move forward.
“Several things have been going on in the party. While I do not want to join issues with people, as stakeholders, our leaders in this state have sat down to look at the events in the last several months,” Okowa noted.
“Because of the events that we see and the communications coming out from the leadership of the PDP at the moment, it did not appear to us that that was a proper political vehicle for us to continue in.”
He concluded by saying that the disunity among PDP governors and the persistent leadership crisis within the party signaled its unpreparedness for any meaningful political engagement ahead of the 2027 general elections.
