2023: Peter Obi Cannot Speak Against PDP, Not Deep Enough For President – Okowa

Despite being a two-term govenor, Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, has ridiculed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi, saying he lacks the requisite experience to lead Nigeria as president in 2023.

Obi was Anambra State governor for 8 years and was the vice presidential candidate of the PDP in 2019. He was Atiku Abubakar’s running mate.

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He defected from Atiku’s Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, few days to the party’s presidential primary election in May.

The former Anambra State governor has seen his political profile rose sharply, especially among youths, that he’s now seen as a strong contender for the Nigerian number one job.

Okowa, whose emergence as the PDP vice presidential running mate has torn the party apart, however poured cold water on Obi’s chances saying his experience as governor is not “deep enough”to make him a good president.

Okowa, who was speaking in an interview with BBC pidgin, the text of which was obtained by THE WHISTLER defended his assertion saying, “I did not say he won’t have any votes, he will have. But what I’m saying is that he’s not a new candidate.

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“It has not been long since he left PDP. You know he was in APGA before, from APGA he came to PDP. It hasn’t been long since he left (PDP) so he cannot say anything about PDP because that’s where he was before,” he said.

On the crisis in the PDP, he said, “We’ve been talking internally, everything is being settled. You know that when something happens and everybody can’t agree, it’s settled bit by bit. That is what we’re still working on from the inside.

“We are finding a way to talk I’ll say, he is my friend, I am his friend, and we will find a way to talk,” he said.

Speaking on the rift between Atiku and Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, he explained that, “Atiku has said his own version of what happened, and I am sure that version he said is the true position.

“I am also not saying that Wike is lying, but if someone carries their anger, it is important to air your views. For us in the party, it’s about how to bring everybody together, how all of us can work together.

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“Wike is still a very important member of the party, he has worked so hard for the party as many of us have worked hard too so we pray that everything comes together and we talk. I’m sure very soon we’ll be sitting down,” the former senator said.

The crisis in the party deepened on Sunday when Wike hosted his presidential campaign coordinators at the Rivers State Governor’s Lodge in Abuja, to discuss what his faction in the PDP will do.

Although sources at the meeting said the meeting could not agree on anything, it was agreed that there should be another meeting.

The meeting was attended by some PDP governors, former ministers, some senators and members of the House of Representatives among other top members of the party.

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