2023: Okowa Has All It Takes to Be President, Says Spokesman
- Mr. Olisa Ifeajika has dismissed suggestions that his boss, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa is not fit to be the vice presidential candidate of the PDP
- The spokesman of the Delta state governor said Okowa had handled tough assignments as a nationalist
- He further said Okowa organised the national convention that stabilised the PDP after the party lost the 2015 general elections
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Asaba - Chief Press Secretary to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta, Mr. Olisa Ifeajika, has said that his principal has all it takes to be president of Nigeria.
Ifeajika stated this while reacting to remarks on Okowa by analysts in an Arise TV programme on Monday, May 30.
Source: Twitter
The analysts were debating on the strengths and weaknesses of some members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) being tipped as vice presidential candidates for the party's presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Addressing journalists at Government House Asaba, the governor’s spokesman said the comments against his boss were derogatory and smacked of crass ignorance of politics by those who made the analysis.
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He said that Okowa possessed the requisite experience to be president but refused to yield to pressure to contest due to personal reasons.
His words:
"In the last two days, the media have been awash with reports about the PDP primaries and the outcome and the things that will follow.
"I don't know when onlookers have become serious politicians that are deciding for politicians. What we know, for those who understand politics, is that after the presidential primaries, the party leaders and the candidate will sit down to decide who the running mate will be.
"It is not done in one day or immediately after the convention; what is important is that the party selects somebody who can assist the candidate to win the election and that is done before the campaigns will start.
"There is no hurry about it; they usually take time to do it and it is the prerogative of parties to do that but I am aware that one analyst or commentator, precisely one Frank Tietie, in an attempt to assess some persons that were listed as likely vice presidential candidate of the PDP displayed so much malice against Okowa.
"When he got to Okowa for his assessment, he said that the gôvernor could not be the vice presidential candidate because he had not developed Delta and that he lacked national exposure, among others.
"To become a vice presidential candidate, you don't have to have a national exposure for you to emerge. It is the prerogative of the party to pick who it thinks will win the election.
"You don't have to be one star anywhere; the party takes time to see who will join the presidential candidate to win the election and that's what I am sure the party will do."
Ifeajika said that Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and Professor Yemi Osinbajo were relatively unknown until they were nominated to be Vice-Presidential candidates.
Ifeajika further said that Okowa had handled tough assignments for the party which also added to his pedigree as a nationalist.
According to him, when Jonathan lost his re-election bid in 2015, the PDP was in turmoil and when the dust settled, the entire party sat down and chose Okowa to organise the National Convention that brought in Uche Secondus-led National Working Committee.
2023: Okowa congratulates PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar
Governor Okowa had earlier felicitated with Atiku over his victory at the just concluded PDP special national convention held in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
In a statement by Ifeajika, the governor expressed confidence in Abubakar's capability to provide needed leadership that would lead the party to accomplish its "Rescue Nigeria" agenda beginning from 2023.
He urged Atiku to, as the face of the PDP in the 2023 general elections, bring his political and socio-economic wherewithal to bear on the responsibility.
Source: Legit.ng
