Headline 1: PDP not ready to compete in 2027 general elections- Okowa, ex-Delta gov

A former governor of Delta State, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, speaks on why he defected alongside many other key Peoples Democratic Party stakeholders in the state to the All Progressives Congress. In this interview on Channels TV ‘Politics Today’ monitored by David Lawani, the vice-presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 election, said he is not opposed to investigation, contrary to insinuations that he defected to the APC to save him from an ongoing probe over alleged financial misappropriation during his tenure as governor  

How would you feel about the statement credited to former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, saying your decision to move to the APC shows how low your political rating is? People have said you are the problem of PDP in Delta. How do you feel about these allegations?

Last Monday, we defected to the APC. I didn’t watch Senator Bukola Saraki’s interview but heard what he said. Ordinarily, we are a political family in Delta State. Once we decide together, I have to go with my political family because, without that family, I have no politics to play. I didn’t expect that somebody in Saraki’s person would be able to speak concerning me because he knew that he had also moved to the APC before and eventually returned. He has had movements to and fro, so I don’t think he has a moral right to speak about my decision to defect. I don’t want to join issues with him, but the truth is that we have a political family in Delta State. Previously, we were in the PDP, and several things happened at the party. Stakeholders and leaders in this state have sat down to look at the events in the last several months. In the course of the events that we see and the communications coming out from the leadership of the PDP, we did not appear to be at a loss, and that is not a proper vehicle to continue. PDP also wasn’t competitive in the 2027 elections. So, a party is led by the current leadership to make a decision, and with fewer governors, the party comes to a decision-making meeting. They decided that there was a need for them to continue alone. In that case, they are neither ready for alliances nor to merge with other parties. The question is, how do they genuinely want to compete? I looked at this thoroughly, along with a lot that has been going on within the party regarding various court cases, who exactly the party’s national secretary is, and many other issues. We are not ready for competition in the 2027 general election. So, I have looked at this, and we believe that as a political family in Delta, we need everybody to move ahead to connect to resources, as I said yesterday. It is not about Governor Sheriff Oborevwori; he is the party leader. It is not about me. It is about the larger Delta State and our political family. I thought in my own opinion and the opinions of the vast majority of leaders because we had different levels of consultations. It was not just a decision of the Governor or between the Governor and Okowa. We had various levels of meetings with several stakeholders. I consulted with some of our leaders, who are not even politicians before we came to this decision. Our choices are right politically; we mean well for our people, and we need to chart a path for ourselves that we can genuinely trust and that could bring political gains to the people of Delta. That was why the decision was taken.

You said your lack of connection to the centre is why you joined the APC in Abuja. Are you saying the centre is side-lining the PDP in Delta?

In the first instance, the question is not about the PDP being side-lined. At the moment, if you are a governor in a ruling party, you are likely to have greater access to goodwill and resources from the party at the centre. I was a governor in the opposition for eight years, and I know we tried to do our best in the state. We could not lay our hands on many things that we would have benefited from at the federal level, because it is obvious. It is easier to connect to Abuja and attract resources and investment in your state if you are the same at the national level. As an opposition governor, you cannot get everything you want. You could do your best but cannot get all you want. For eight years, we did that. If I had the confidence on my own, and if the governor had the confidence that the PDP, as it stands today, is preparing to compete favourably and be very competitive at the 2027 general election, we would not have needed to move. The signs are not there because if you are going to compete, it is necessary to reach out to people. We are not spending our time reaching out to people. There is a lot of internal wrangling within the party, and I do not want to join in on issues with anybody, even though they have the right to their thoughts despite their own not going well with us. For us to be truly competitive, we must stretch our hands to embrace a lot of people. We must be the people going out and not waiting or believing that even if they want to join us, they should come and join. I genuinely want to be in a situation where my political family in Delta is returned to the corridors of power in Abuja. It is in Delta’s best interest to return to the corridors of power in Abuja, and we do not seem to have it within the current PDP as it was. We need to change the path of our politics to achieve what we thought was best for our people.

What did you discuss with Waziri of Adamawa and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar before moving to the APC? There were insinuations that you were side-lined at some point.

In the first instance, it isn’t true that I was side-lined in the coalition talks. The Waziri, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, invited me last year, and I sat with him. We discussed this coalition, and I offered my advice then. As we progressed, we met again, and I offered my advice. The advice I gave him was personal, and it is not something we have to discuss publicly. The absolute truth is that it is not a question of being side-lined. I discussed the matter with some of the leaders of our party, and they were not quite comfortable with a coalition being built. We are two years away, and the party’s primaries will start next year. We are just one year away from the primary election, and no vehicle has been confirmed for the coalition; neither does it appear to us as a political family that the coalition will give strength to the family within the short time available. To that end, it became worrying for both the governor and the leadership of our political family in Delta State, and we felt that it was difficult to move into that coalition because it was one of our considerations, as we did say high-ranging conversation with stakeholders in four different sections. We consulted with the party’s caucus, all elected members, the national and state assembly, the local government council chairmen, honourable commissioners, and other top government appointees. We thereafter consulted with all the party’s leadership, the state executive of the party and the local government executives, including the ward represented at the stakeholders’ meeting. The meeting resolved that it was best to move toward the APC rather than the direction of the coalition because there is still a lot of uncertainty about the coalition. They couldn’t agree it was best to go into the coalition. As to the PDP, the leadership’s mind has been made up about how the party is going, and I do not believe we will be competitive enough. So we had two choices. Either the APC or the coalition, and it is not just about the majority view. It was lively, and everyone believed we should move into the APC.

Did you speak with Atiku Abubakar about the lack of a deal and our current direction? Is it about the North versus south direction?

I communicated with him that we were going to have stakeholders meetings and that it was going to be a leadership meeting, and the outcome of that meeting would determine our next path because we were no longer comfortable with the PDP. He was already leaving the PDP from the communications he passed to me. Nigerians also know already, and when we went into the meetings, I said we were looking into it. Could it be the APC or the coalition? As I said, it was a near-all decision that we should move into the APC. To that extent, we communicated ahead of time. But about the North versus the South? The politics today may not be about the North and South. People from the North and South compete in all political parties. You are likely going to have people from both regions. But beyond all this and the nation’s stability, yes, President Bola Tinubu was elected in 2023, and for the stability of Nigeria, we should have him complete his eight years. Then, the Presidency can move back to the North. That is the right thing. Why call it a north-south thing?

Did you consult former governor James Ibori among the stakeholders that you consulted? What is your relationship with him? Is he comfortable with your move?

Our relationship is quite cordial. We may have had political differences regarding the 2023 election; we had different candidates aspiring for the governor in 2023, and thereafter, it appeared we had other candidates for various positions. Since then, we have had occasional communications. But coming on the political scene, he had already declared his intention to support President Bola Tinubu and has continued to help him. So, as we move into the APC, it all means that we will now all work in the same direction in support of Mr President. There isn’t any separation between us. We will all work together. Undoubtedly, I needed to consult him within our PDP family, as he was not part of us then. But we did consult with every other person who was within the PDP. That is why you find that everybody is moving, and it is welcoming. We will all work together to ensure we can deliver at the elections in 2027.

Were you arrested by the EFCC or not? Is it true that Senator Adams Oshiomhole advised you that if you join the APC, your sins will be forgiven, and why are you in a hurry for your sins to be forgiven?

In the first instance, there were no sins committed, and there were no sins to be forgiven. The EFCC did not arrest me. A communication was sent to me, which arrived at my place, and I was outside the country then. When I returned, I reported to the EFCC to answer their query. As I said at that time, I communicated to the public. I am not afraid of being investigated because I have worked for Delta State and the people. The vast majority of the people understood that I worked for them, and in the course of my work, I had nothing to fear. Today, four universities are running perfectly in Delta. They have never gone on strike any day. Three of those universities were birthed during my time as governor. Beyond that, if you go to the villages and riverine areas, we have not asked ourselves why we have had some quietness in those communities. It is because we took infrastructural development to the people, and they appreciate it. They cooperated with us. They call me road master. It is the people that gave me that name. There are so many things. When you get to the health sector, our free healthcare programmes and healthcare insurance programmes are working well. Free maternal care is working well for under-five children. The governor has continued with it, and things are working fine. So, I did well for the people of the state. Anybody can give a petition, but whether the petition is given the right of investigation is that of the EFCC. So, there is no fear at all concerning that. I have never spoken to Senator Adams Oshiomhole. We only saw each other for the first time yesterday, the day of our open defection. We are on different political paths, and we were not friends because we were on different political paths. People know that in the past, I did work for Governor Obaseki while he worked for somebody else, and Obaseki returned for a second term. We were on different political paths and saw each other for the first time yesterday while on the ground. We embrace ourselves because we are now in the same political party. I remember his words to me. He said, “Now we are no longer on the same political path to part.” It is the spirit of working with each other; otherwise, before yesterday, I had not spoken to him, Senator Adams Oshiomhole.

Okowa could not deliver Delta State for the PDP in the last general election, so who are the people he is moving into the APC with, and why did the same people not choose you for the election?

For those who doubt my political reach, they should wait until the next election. And for those who doubt my political reach, at the time we went into the governorship election, it was apparent who the masters of politics on the field were. Beyond that, the issue about the presidential election was such that as in 2023, it was a question of north and south politics. I am very much aware of it. The people of the South were primarily interested in a Southerner coming in as President after former President Buhari’s eight years. I ran under my party as a vice presidential candidate because I belong to a political family. Even when we were campaigning, I realised that our people were not interested in having another northerner coming into power at that 2023 general election, which became a significant factor for me. Still, a decision had been taken at our party level, and I was already nominated as the vice presidential candidate. So, what happened was a question of, oh, I did not follow the path and pulse of the people. I have advised myself that I must go with the people. It is not because I want to believe in north-south politics, but generally, when you are playing politics, the views of your people matter. From our people’s views, expressed in the presidential election 2023, I have said that in 2027, our people will still go for a southern candidate because they believe it is still the turn of the South. I need to align with the views of my people; when we went into the governorship election three weeks later, the tide changed. That tide changed because our people returned from our various consultative meetings to say you have done well for us. We believe in you and will deliver the governor you have put forth. And they delivered overwhelmingly, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, as Governor of the state. We won 21 out of the 25 local government councils. That shows precisely that the people still believe in us. However, the fact that we stepped out of their will by working with the North at that time affected the presidential election.