Ezekiel Awojide
A former Minister of Internal Affairs, Abba Moro, has said the soul of Senator Ifeanyi Okowa was not with the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar in 2023.
He, therefore, said it was an error on the part of those who picked the former governor of Delta State as the party’s vice presidential candidate in 2023.
He said without him, the PDP could have won the election.
Moro, who is a senator representing Benue South, spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Tuesday night.
His reaction followed the defection of Okowa and the Governor of Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori, to the All Progressives Congress on April 23.
He said the choice of Okowa was a “serious mistake“for the presidential candidate of the PDP.
Both Okowa and Oborevwori had justified their action, saying it was in the interest of their state.
Moro said “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.
“I think there is an error of judgment on the part of everybody that 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.
“As it is now, you can safely conclude that we lost the election because of lack of commitment.
“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.”
