The outgoing Delta State Governor and 2023 vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ifeanyi Okowa has stated that a northerner could have succeeded President Muhammadu Buhari if Peter Obi didn’t leave the PDP.
According to Okowa, the PDP had analyzed and concluded on how to present a northern candidate, with a southern running mate as the best way to counter the All Progressives Congress (APC) from getting massive bloc votes in the 2023 elections.
The party threw its presidential ticket open with a former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar eventually emerging as the PDP candidate.
However, the Delta State Governor said the decision of Obi to join the race for the ticket threw up southeast and religious sentiments and his eventual decision to dump the party for the Labour Party affected the votes of the PDP.
He made the submission during a chat with journalists on Sunday in Asaba.
According to Okowa, the northern presidency would have succeeded if Obi didn’t leave the PDP.
“I belong to the PDP and for me as a person and for the majority of the people in the PDP, they believed that our pathway to victory was to have a northern candidate and a southern vice,” he said.
“Why? Because we were not a majority.”
“The only thing that turned our reasoning out was when Obi came out from the south-east and there were a lot of feelings that came in among the Christians.
“So it ate very deep into our votes and that is what led to the loss of the elections,” Okowa added.
