Okowa Lobbied To Be Atiku’ s Running Mate, Caused PDP’s Defeat – Timi Frank

By Ayodele Oni

Former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timi Frank, has said that former Vice Presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, (PDP), Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, lacks rectitude to play victim or feign regret over a job and position he desperately wanted.

Okowa and Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, led other top PDP chieftains in the State to decamp to the All Progressives Congress (APC) early this week.

Okowa had, in an interview, stated that he was a reluctant candidate as the PDP’s presidential candidate running mate and that the decision was made by elders of the party.

But Frank, in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday, condemned the statement credited to the immediate past Governor of Delta State, to the effect that he “regrets” accepting to be presidential running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2023.

According to him, Okowa’s position was an “afterthought” since he was not only desperate to be running mate but fought, begged and lobbied for the position.

“It is understandable that Okowa is fighting the battle of his life to evade prosecution by the EFCC over corruption allegations against him, but to make Nigerians believe that he now “regrets” taking up the position of Vice Presidential Candidate of the PDP in 2023 is not only an an afterthought but cowardice in full bloom.

“We know how Okowa begged, fought and lobbied to get the position.

“This is not Okowa’s first attempt as a high level betrayer. The tale of how he stabbed ex-Governor James Ibori, his erstwhile godfather, in the back because of power is still fresh in our memory.

“Many of us know how Okowa emerged as Vice Presidential candidate which he was not meant to be because a few of us never wanted him because we believed he did not have the capacity and experience to become Vice President.

“I’m one of those who felt strongly that the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, was a better candidate than Okowa as at that time. But because of the interest of some leaders and elders of PDP at that time, who, at Okowa’s bidding, unknown to many, lobbied and pressurized Atiku to pick him.

“We are still of the opinion that if Wike had emerged in place of Okowa in 2023 as running mate to Atiku, perhaps PDP would be in government at the National level today but we lost out apparently because of the choice of this ungrateful Okowa who never brought real value or political capital to the table.

“Even as a sitting Governor and a Vice Presidential Candidate, his party, PDP, lost Delta State during the last Presidential Election and because of his emptiness and lack of electoral value, his present voyage would equally not benefit the APC.

“I dare say that with his lack of capacity and value, Okowa would remain a liability because even with him in APC, the party would still lose Delta state in 2027 like PDP did in 2023 with Okowa as a sitting governor.

“With the likes of Okowa joining APC, it shows the party is now a dumping ground for looters. Okowa did not join the APC because he believed Asiwaju has delivered or that the party is working but because of his atrocities now being investigated by the EFCC.

“However, Nigerians and the international community will watch if the anti-graft agency will soft-pedal on his probe because he is now singing: ‘Tinubu, On Your Mandate We Shall Stand.”