Immediate past Governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, has clarified that the mass defection of the Peoples Democratic Party structure in Delta to the All Progressives Congress was not intended to turn the state into a one-party entity, as some critics have claimed.
Speaking during an interview on Arise Television on Tuesday, Okowa, alongside Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and other PDP stakeholders, had on Monday officially joined the APC. He stressed that the move was not a strategy to monopolise political power in Delta State.
“I don’t believe that we are here to get into a one-party State because, people will always have their opinions and that is why as at today, you still have the APC, you still have the PDP, but some of us feels that the PDP is not preparing itself to be competitive enough,” Okowa said.
He explained that if the PDP had shown signs of readiness and structure to challenge for power effectively, there may not have been a need for defection. However, he noted that Nigeria’s political space still includes several parties and hinted at the emergence of a new opposition alliance.
“If we felt and we are sure within ourselves that they are preparing themselves to be competitive enough, we possibly may not have moved, but you still have the Labour Party, you have several other parties.
“The coalition is coming; we don’t know under what party the coalition is going to be birthed, so we believe other parties are coming, so it is not likely that we are going to have a one-party state,” he added.
Okowa also cited the challenges of being in opposition, especially for a state like Delta that contributes significantly to the national economy, as one of the reasons behind the strategic political shift.
“For us in Delta State, we know what we contribute into the nation’s purse. We have been in opposition for 10 years and if we were sure that we will be competitive enough to be able to as a party, take over governance, probably we would not have given thought to whatever is going on.
“As at today, the APC appears to be working hard to retain power,” he stated.
When asked if the defection was simply about holding onto power rather than a shift in ideology, Okowa gave a candid assessment of the ideological vacuum in Nigeria’s political landscape.
“There is hardly anything you can say about any party having a particular ideology.
“Unfortunately for us as a nation, we have not moved into the direction of any party becoming ideological. If you watch the various manifestos of the various parties in the last elections, you find that they are almost the same. No party appears to have ideological principles that hold them down.
“We have refused to, as a people, refused to build our parties to have a particular ideology and it appears that parties in Nigeria are only being used as vehicles for elections and that is the true position at the moment.
“There is no ideological style for any of the parties at the moment,” he declared.
Reflecting on his decision to leave the PDP, Okowa lamented that the party which was founded in 1998 no longer bears resemblance to the vision and structure it once had.
He said: “When you are tired of what is going on and you do not seem to understand what is going on in a place that you call home, then you have to step out and find another home and l think that is what we have done.
“The truth is that the PDP as at today, is not ready to be competitive as it was in the past and cannot be the same vehicle me must continue to go along with.”
