Senator Abba Moro, who represents Benue South, claims that if the PDP had not selected Ifeanyi Okowa as its presidential candidate’s running mate, Atiku Abubakar, the party would have won the 2023 election.
Speaking on Tuesday’s episode of Channels Television’s Politics Today, Moro called it a “serious mistake” that Okowa, the former governor of Delta state, was selected as the opposition party’s vice presidential candidate.
After saying that he regretted becoming Abubakar’s running partner in the 2023 elections, Okowa made this statement.
Speaking on Monday’s Arise Television Morning Show, Okowa said that his candidature as the PDP’s vice presidential candidate went against the wishes of his constituents.
Okowa and Delta Governor Sheriff Oborevwori switched to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on April 23.
According to the former Delta governor, his decision to defect to the ruling party was made in the “best interest of our people” and because the state’s citizens needed to “connect to Abuja.”
But according to Moro, Okowa’s expression of sadness following the PDP’s loss in Delta State’s presidential election demonstrated that his “soul” was not in the party.
“Given what we know now, with the hindsight that we have now, some of us think that the party would have won the election if other candidates, other than Okowa, had been picked as the vice-presidential candidate from the south,” the Benue senator said.
“I think there is an error of judgment on the part of everybody who was involved in the choice of Okowa as the candidate.
“How else would you characterise this scenario that a sitting governor, a former senator, and a presidential candidate of a party couldn’t deliver his state even to the presidential candidate?”
“And to think that two out of the senators from that state were from the opposition parties other than the PDP.
“So, I think that picking Okowa as the vice-presidential candidate in 2023 was a very serious mistake.”
Moro added that Okowa’s action showed a lack of commitment to the party.
“As it is now, you can safely conclude that we lost the election because of lack of commitment,” he said.
“Otherwise, how can you explain that shortly after losing his state, which
ordinarily should have been a very easy pick for the PDP, instead of rendering an apology to the party and Nigeria, he’s now talking about regretting being on the ticket?
“His soul was not in the PDP. His soul was not in that election, and that is why we performed very miserably in Delta state.”
