Okowa never regretted running with Atiku in 2023 — Aide

The Executive Assistant to the Delta State Governor on Public Enlightenment (Projects and Policies), Olisa Ifeajika, has stated that the immediate past governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, never regretted being a running mate to Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 presidential election.

He made this known while reacting to reports arising from an interview Senator Okowa granted to Arise Television on Tuesday.

Ifeajika described the media reports as a misrepresentation of what was actually said, calling them baseless, malicious, and wicked.

Armed with a video recording of the said personality interview, Ifeajika, a former Chief Press Secretary to Okowa, stated that “at no time during the interview did his former boss apologize for the decision to run on the presidential ticket with Atiku Abubakar.”

He described the report as uncharitable, fabricated, and, at best, a figment of the imagination of those behind it.

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“In that interview, there was no point where Senator Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa said he regretted being the vice-presidential candidate to Atiku or being on the ticket with him,” he said.

According to him, what Okowa said was that during the course of the campaign, it became clear that many Nigerians preferred a president from the South after eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari.

“And he (Okowa) said the issue was about what the people wanted—and they got it. Lessons have been learned.

“The lesson is that one must carry out a needs assessment to understand what the people truly want. And in 2023, what the South wanted was a president from the South.”

“The PDP was already on the ballot, working hard to win the election. The people—the electorate—had the power and voted the way they wanted.”

“The whirlwind of the Obidient Movement that swept through the country, including Delta, Lagos, and Benue states, was evidence of the people’s resolve to choose a president of Southern Nigerian extraction,” he noted.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE