Governor of Delta state, Ifeanyi Okowa has revealed that he’s not against zoning in the 2023 Gubernatorial Elections.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, has said that contrary to insinuations, he is not averse to the PDP zoning arrangement as the race for the governorship ticket thickens up in the State ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Okowa said that it was important to put the records straight in order not to mislead Deltans and other Nigerians.
He further said that the insinuations making the rounds that the he came to power through zoning were wrong because people from other senatorial districts participated in the primaries that brought him to power.
Okowa added that there was no time in the history of the state that any primary for governorship was allowed as an exclusive preserve of any senatorial district.
Okowa in a statement made by his Chief Press Secretary, Olise Ifeajika, said that it was also not true that the he came to power through zoning consensus as being canvassed by some highly-placed Deltans.
“There is an insinuation making the rounds; ordinarily one wouldn’t have bothered to talk about it but because it’s coming from very highly-placed persons, there is a need to put the records straight.
“It’s not true that the governor of this state, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, is opposed to zoning, particularly for the governorship of this state.
“The times he spoke, it was loud and clear. He said that God would help Deltans to determine who will take over from him.
“But even at that, he told Deltans that at the right time, the leadership of the PDP will sit down to decide who the governor will be and after that, leave it to God to decide ultimately as he cannot play the role of God.
“That has been his position; so, it’s not true that the governor is opposed to power moving to Delta Central or any other senatorial district for that matter.
“The insinuation that it was through zoning that Okowa became governor is also wrong. We are all witnesses to the primaries that brought him to power, persons from the other senatorial districts in the state other than Delta North, participated in the exercise.
“There was no time in the state, particularly in this present dispensation, that any primary for governorship has been allowed to be for only one particular senatorial district.
“In all the records we have, primaries had been for all comers; people from all the senatorial districts always participated in all of that.
“For the one that brought Okowa to power in 2015, we are aware that aspirants from Central and South Senatorial Districts participated, including a former minister who has become an apostle of zoning and saying that zoning consensus brought Governor Okowa to power.
“Indeed, former Chief of Staff, Olorogun David Edevbie, came second in that race, meaning that if he had come first, there was no way they would have asked him to stay away and allow Okowa to grab the ticket on the grounds that it was the turn of Delta North to produce the governor.
“In other words, it is not true that it was zoning that brought Okowa to power, it was his person, his pedigree in politics and the grace of God. He also had, as he still does, immense goodwill across the three senatorial districts.
“So, what we are praying for and also asking Deltans to do is that everybody should come together and at the right time, the leadership of PDP will come together and decide who the successor to Governor Okowa will be, and of course, they will be guided by God as the governor himself, had said.
“That’s what we need to do; so, the insinuation that the governor is opposed to the next governorship candidate coming from a particular place is untrue and it is important to put that record straight,” Ifeajika stated in the statement.
