Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State and Vice-Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 25 election has declared that he did not betray anyone during the party’s presidential primary last year.
He also said there was no law that compels the party’s National Chairman, Dr. Iyorchia Ayu, to resign because the presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, also hails from the North “unless he decides to step aside on his own volition”.
Speaking through his Chief Press Secretary (CPS), Mr Olisa Ifeajika, at a news conference in Asaba, Okowa said Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State should have directed the party’s governorship candidate in Rivers or the state chairman to resign since both hail from Rivers South.
He said that as a loyal party man, Okowa heeded PDP’s directives and decisions in all matters concerning the presidential convention.
He recalled that the Southern Governors’ Forum at a meeting in Asaba, resolved and later reiterated in subsequent meetings in Lagos and Enugu, to work towards the realisation of Southern Presidency.
According to him, when members of the forum returned to their various parties, decisions varied as each political party had different plans to approach the process of electing a presidential candidate.
“For us in PDP, the party told the governors that it may not go with their position because we are in opposition and in order to get it right, the party set up a committee headed by Benue Governor, Samuel Ortom, to advise it appropriately on zoning of the ticket.
“The Ortom committee, in its wisdom, recommended that zoning be jettisoned to allow all aspirants to participate in the primary to enable the best to emerge.
“The committee presented its report to the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) where it was agreed to open the presidential ticket to enable for the best hands to emerge as recommended.
“As far as we are aware, no member, including the governors or group, protested the party’s decision. They all acquiesced and accepted the party’s decision on zoning.
“There was no treachery anywhere because no agreement was reached. The party’s position prevailed and delegates at the Presidential Primary voted as they wished,” he said.
Ifeajika said that long after the primaries, some persons were still talking about betrayal, and wondered where the G-5 governors were when the Ortom Committee presented its report.
“Why didn’t they raise their voices against the party’s decision not to zone the ticket to any part and rise against it?
“They agreed to it, participated, only to start an agitation without foundation after a candidate had emerged.
“I see the G-5 Governors agitation as a distraction and I appeal to them to sheath their sword and beat a retreat as quickly as possible to join the party’s rescue mission.
“They remain very senior members of PDP and they remain an important factor because the next election is a low hanging fruit for the PDP to pick if we close ranks. We believe that Nigerians would vote for the party,” he added.
On the G-5 governors agitation for the sack of Ayu, Okowa’s spokesman said it was a constitutional matter which ought to be addressed at the appropriate time.
“In Rivers State where Wike holds sway as Governor, the Governorship candidate is from Rivers South and the Chairman of the party in the state is also from Rivers South.
“We didn’t see Wike tell the party Chairman to step aside because a governorship candidate emerged from same senatorial district with him.
“It becomes germane if Atiku emerges President and the party Chairman remains in office. There is no law that compels Ayu to resign because the North has produced the Presidential candidate, unless he decides to step aside on his own volition.
“One would have thought that having pursued the agitation without yielding results, that they will beat a retreat but if they go ahead to endorse another candidate aside the PDP Presidential candidate, appropriate steps will be taken,” he stressed.
On Obasanjo’s endorsement of Peter Obi, he said Obasanjo merely exercised his constitutional right, adding that Nigerians might not listen to him.
“You will recall that sometime ago he tore his party card and said he wants to remain a statesman. What he has done is the exercise of his constitutional rights.
“He was against Buhari in 2019 but he later won and that means that many Nigerians didn’t listen to him and that may also play out this time around,” he said.
