Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, the former Vice-Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last election, has announced his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC), citing that “the PDP is not ready for the 2027 general elections.”
Okowa, who previously served as Governor of Delta State, expressed that former Vice President Atiku Abubakar is also likely to leave the PDP, stating, “many Nigerians are aware of that.”
Last week, Okowa and several political leaders from Delta State defected from the PDP to the APC, a move that has sparked significant discussion within political circles.
In an interview addressing his defection, Okowa remarked, “I did not watch Senator Bukola speak, but I heard about what he said. Originally, I believe we are a political family in Delta and once we take decisions together, I have to go with my political family because without that family, I have no politics to play.”
He continued, expressing his disbelief at Senator Saraki’s comments, saying, “Also, I did not expect that somebody like Saraki should be able to speak concerning me, because he has also moved to APC before and returned, so I don’t think that he has a moral right to speak about my defection.”
Okowa further elaborated on the reasons behind his departure, stating, “As stakeholders and leaders in the state, we have sat down to look at events in the last several months… At the moment, it does not appear to us that the PDP is the proper political vehicle for us to continue in. It did not also appear to us that PDP was ready to be competitive in the 2027 elections.”
He added, “If a party appears, as is led by the current leadership, to take a decision that they want to continue alone and they were not ready for alliances, they were not ready for coalition with other parties, how do they want to compete? Having looked critically at the situation, along with many other things that have been going on within the party, we do not appear to be really ready to compete in the 2027 election.”
When questioned about his relationship with Atiku prior to his defection, Okowa disclosed, “I actually did communicate with him that we were going to have stakeholders’ meetings this week… and I also know that he is already heading out of the PDP from the communications he (Atiku) has passed on to me and that Nigerians know already.”
