Former Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has said he regretted his decision to run as the vice-presidential candidate alongside Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 presidential election, admitting that it contradicted the zoning and wishes of his people.

Speaking on Arise Television, Okowa described his acceptance of the role as a misalignment with the prevailing sentiments in Delta State — an issue he said he has deeply reflected upon.

He said, “Even when we were campaigning, I realised our people were not interested in having another northerner come into power.

“But the decision had already been taken at the federal level by the party (PDP) and I had been nominated. Still, in retrospect, I now believe I should have gone with the will of my people.”

He also fired back at former Senate President Bukola Saraki for criticising his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Okowa, former presidential running mate to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the PDP in the 2023 general elections, said that Saraki lacks the moral standing to comment on or criticise his defection.

“I did not expect that someone like Senator Bukola Saraki should be able to speak concerning me, because he knows that he had also moved to APC before and eventually returned,” Okowa said. 

“So he has had movement to and fro. So, I don’t think that he has the moral right to even speak about my defection at all.”

Okowa explained that the decision to defect was not taken lightly and was a collective resolution by key political figures in Delta State. 

He said it was necessitated by internal crises and a lack of strategic direction within the PDP.

“Several things have been going on in the party. While I do not want to join issues with people, as stakeholders, our leaders in this state have sat down to look at the events in the last several months,” Okowa noted. 

“Because of the events that we see and the communications coming out from the leadership of the PDP at the moment, it did not appear to us that that was a proper political vehicle for us to continue in.”
He further pointed to the PDP governors’ resistance to forming a coalition and the ongoing leadership crisis as clear signs that the opposition party is not prepared for serious political competition ahead of the 2027 general elections.