LAGOS JUNE 25TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Barely a week after he clinched the vice presidential ticket of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for 2023 general election, Ifeanyi Okowa, Delta State Governor was Thursday honoured by the Delta PDP and the people of the state.

The grand reception given him at the Cenotaph, Asaba, was however, without the presence of most of the founding fathers and stalwarts of the party.

BusinessDay reports that former Governor James Ibori who many see as political godfather to Okowa was conspicuously absent from the event.

Also, Emmanuel Uduaghan, Okowa’s predecessor was not present at the event just as some other bigwigs of the party especially from Delta Central and Delta South were not present to honour the governor.

Observers believe that their absence may not be unconnected with party’s primary elections which had favoured Okowa’s candidates against these bigwigs’.

Allegations were rife that Ibori tried to use his connections in Abuja to block Okowa from being picked by Atiku Abubakar for the VP slot but was unsuccessful as Okowa was eventually favoured.

Another school of thought believes that Deltans who are accusing Okowa of betraying the Southern Nigeria by taking the VP slot could not see reason to attend such a reception programme in honour of Okowa.

Notwithstanding their absence, the programme was seen to be a huge success as a crowd of people – party faithful who still believe in Okowa’, women, men, youth, and various groups and association stormed the Asaba Airport from where they welcomed the governor.

Several groups were also seen at strategic points of the road from the airport to the Cenotaph where a huge crowd of Deltans were also waiting and celebrating the governor.

Speaking at the occasion, Governor Okowa said that the result of his joint ticket with Atiku Abubakar would prove naysayers wrong.

He said that he would not have accepted Atiku’s nomination as VP if he didn’t believe in his programmes.

“We have a project to restructure Nigeria. If Atiku does not have a good programme, I would not have accepted to be his vice presidential candidate.

“Our ticket is a ticket of hope and victory. This ticket will rescue and renew Nigeria. In the last seven years, all has not been well with our Nation,” he said.

On alleged betrayal of the south by the governor, Okowa said many may not appreciate his acceptance of VP position now but added that God has endorsed it.

He urged youths not be carried away by the euphoria of the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, saying that God wants to use the youths to reposition this nation in 2022.

“There are people who say things that they cannot do. They continue to build hope in things that they cannot do.

“During our administration (Atiku/Okowa), our Universities will never be on strike because we understand the pains of our youths. Therefore, we would not bring the current pain that the APC government have put us through.

“We are coming to rescue the country with our youths and women and by the grace of God, we would send the APC packing by 2023 because what is going on in the nation is not the Nigeria we want,” he said.

He assured that the administration of Atiku would tackle issues of insecurity by providing jobs for the youths.

“When students are at home and they cannot go to school you cannot talk about solving the issue of insecurity,” he further said.

Okowa commended Deltans for their continuous support and stressed that it was their support that was lifting him into greater heights.

He thanked Atiku Abubakar, Iyorchia Ayu, the national chairman of PDP, and the National Working Committee for agreeing to choose him for the joint ticket for the president and vice president of Nigeria in 2023.

He urged Deltans and residents to register for their Personal Voters Card (PVC) to deliver a credible Presidential Candidate.

In his address, Ndudi Elumelu, the minority leader of the House of Representatives, revealed that Okowa stepped down his personal ambition for the good of the party.

BusinessDay