Ifeanyi Okowa, the former governor of Delta state, has foreseen the exit of Atiku Abubakar, an ex-Vice President, from the Peoples Democratic Party ahead of the 2027 elections.
Recall that Atiku, who was the presidential candidate of the PDP during the 2023 election, picked Okowa as his running mate.
Atiku, alongside Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Nasir El-Rufai, a former Kaduna State governor, and others announced ahead of the 2027 General Election.
The creation of a coalition is aimed to challenge President Bola Tinubu and olitical figures have voiced differing views on the move, which has spurred continuous debates on the possibility of a unified resistance.
Speaking on Arise News on Tuesday, Okowa—who officially joined the All Progressives Congress on Monday—expressed regret for not aligning with his people in supporting a southern candidate in 2023 instead of accepting the role as Atiku’s running mate. He said, “Even when we were campaigning, I realised our people were not interested in having another northerner come into power.
“But the decision had already been taken at the federal level by the party, and I had been nominated. Still, in retrospect, I now believe I should have gone with the will of my people.”
He added that the election of the current Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, proves that the people still have confidence in their leadership.
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Okowa added, “That showed the people still believed in us, believed in me. They said you’ve done well, and we will support the governor you have chosen. And they did.”
When asked about his communication with Atiku before leaving the PDP, Okowa responded, “I actually did communicate with him that we were going to have stakeholders meetings this week (in the last week) and that it was going to be a leadership meeting and the outcome of that meeting was going to determine our next path because we were no longer comfortable with the PDP.
“And I also know that he is already heading out of the PDP from the communications he has passed on to me, and that Nigerians know already.”
