Ifeanyi Okowa,
outgoing governor of Delta state, has spoken on the accusations of betrayal
levelled against him regarding the southern presidency agenda.
In the build-up to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
primary in May 2022, some stakeholders demanded that the presidential ticket be
zoned to the south.
However, the party ditched zoning, throwing the contest for the presidential ticket
open.
The move elicited heated criticism, with Nyesom Wike, governor of Rivers, saying the decision was in “clear violation of the party’s constitution”.
The attendant squabble led Wike and the governors of Benue,
Abia, Oyo, and Enugu states to form a group called the ‘G5’.
Members of the group are believed to have worked against the
success of Atiku Abubakar, PDP presidential candidate, in their election.
The Delta state governor, who was the vice-presidential
candidate of the PDP, has been repeatedly accused of betraying the south.
The accusations partly stemmed from the reported resolution
of the southern governors — from PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC) —
after a meeting in Asaba, Delta state capital.
The governors were said to have mutually agreed on a
southern president succeeding President Muhammadu Buhari.
Their agreement was dubbed the ‘Asaba Accord’.
‘I CHOSE PARTY WELFARE OVER SENTIMENTS’
Speaking extensively on the matter in a chat with
journalists on Sunday, Okowa said he never agreed to plans of a southern
presidency.
He said the issue of zoning was never discussed as a main
agenda at the meeting in Asaba, adding that it was only passed across as an
afterthought.
“I don’t think there was any betrayal, people give the wrong
communication. In the first instance, the meeting we held in Asaba never talked
about the issue of a southern president. The meeting we held in Asaba was to
discuss the issue concerning herdsmen and the need to find a stop to it,” he
said.
“It was actually the meeting in Lagos… but people just
misconstrue the two. It was in a follow-up meeting in Lagos that the issue came
up and it was not actually part of our agenda but we did not know people had
their own views; you know politics was coming.
“When we had
finished, under ‘any other business’, the matter was thrown up and we just
found that a lot of us were ambushed but a majority actually had their way.
“I don’t want to relate it to partisan politics now because
some people in the PDP had supported it(southern presidency) and then the issue
came out and it was introduced first by the governor of Ondo state, and
supported by the then-governor of Ekiti state, and then it followed through and
then one or two PDP people also made their comments.
“But for us, we could see that that matter had been
discussed before — and it is part of politics so we let it go.”
Okowa, who is expected to hand over to Sheriff Oborevwori on
Monday, said he chose what he believed was right for the PDP, adding that other
members had also shared his views.
“I’ll tell you the
truth behind the whole thing, if you’re going to back a situation, you must
ensure that the situation is right for your party and that was the question I
raised when people said it was a betrayal,” he said.
“There was no point where we said everybody agreed 100
percent or we were going to go this way.”
‘NORTHERN
PRESIDENCY WOULD HAVE SUCCEDED IF OBI DID NOT LEAVE’
Throwing more light on the issue, Okowa said PDP’s analysis
had shown that a northern presidency was a better strategy for winning the
presidential election.
“I belong to the PDP and for me as a person and for the
majority of the people in the PDP, they believed that our pathway to victory
was to have a northern candidate and a southern vice,” he said.
“Why? Because we were not a majority.”
The Delta state governor added that the strategy was drawn
on the basis of reducing the chances of massive votes for the APC.
Okowa said the plan was thwarted when Peter Obi,
presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the election, left the PDP.
“The only thing that turned our reasoning out was when Obi
came out from the south-east and there were a lot of feelings that came in
among the Christians,” he said.
“So it ate very deep into our votes and that is what led to
the loss of the elections.”
Obi had resigned membership of the PDP over concerns about
the party’s refusal to accept “constructive contributions”.
Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated
Atiku and Obi in the keenly contested election with a total of 8,794,726 votes.
Atiku had the second-highest figure with 6,984,520 votes,
while Obi was third with 6,101,533 votes.
Both the PDP and LP have challenged Tinubu’s victory.
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