Okowa: Anambra Always Home for PDP, We’ll Win 2023 Elections

*Gale of defections hits opposition parties in Katsina

David-Chyddy Eleke in Awka and Francis Sardauna in Katsina

Delta State Governor and Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, has said his party would win in Anambra State in the 2023 election, because the state has always been home for the party.

Despite the dominance of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), which also has a presidential candidate, and the Labour Party (LP), whose candidate, Mr Peter Obi, is also from the state, Okowa said PDP would take over the state at the presidential run.

This is as another gale of defections, has hit the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) in Katsina State as 12,963 members of the parties defected to the PDP in the state.

Okowa, who is the running mate to Atiku Abubakar, was represented in Onitsha for the 20th Ofala festival of the traditional ruler of the ancient Kingdom, Obi Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe, by the leader of the Presidential campaign council in Anambra State, Prof. Obiora Okonkwo, chairman of United Nigeria Airline.
Okonkwo, who spoke to journalists explained that, “PDP is fully prepared for the campaign. Anambra has always been the home of PDP, and you may wish to check it. In the past, we have won landslide in all the presidential elections, and almost all the time, we have won majority of the national assembly election, and I do not think this will be different.

“The campaign committee is coming to Anambra, and we will campaign in every corner of Anambra State, starting from every voter, every polling booth, every ward and every local government.
“I have no doubt that at the end of the day, Anambra people will know that we need to be reconnected to Abuja, and the only wire that will give us that connection to the political grid is PDP.”

On the dominance of APGA in Anambra, Okonkwo, who described the party as a friend of PDP, said, “APGA had controlled the state in past times, when PDP had won 95 per cent of the votes in the state, both in the presidential and national assembly election in Anambra State. I think it is going to be the same.
“Anambra people have always voted for the PDP at all times, and I wonder why you feel this time will be different. We are confident that we will win Anambra at the end of the day.”

He, however, eulogised the traditional ruler of Onitsha kingdom, Obi Alfred Nnaemeka Achebe for holding a colourful Ofala cultural festival, while also enjoining other monarchs and communities to join in showcasing African culture.
Meanwhile, defectors, who were from Jibia and Kaita Local Government Areas of Katsina state, including the immediate past Special Adviser to Governor Aminu Bello Masari on Skill Acquisition and Vocational Training, Aminu Lawal, Alhaji Sa’adu Maigishiri, Hon. Lawal Abba, Nura Damaga, Mansur Mani, Basiru Isyaku and other bigwigs of APC, had joined the PDP.

This came barely nine days after the defection of the former Secretary to the state Government (SSG) and governorship aspirant of the APC, Dr. Mustapha Muhammad Inuwa, to the PDP.

Lawal, who spoke on behalf of the defectors, alleged that they dumped the ruling APC over leadership failure and the inability of its  government to ward off security and economic challenges affecting residents of the state.
He claimed that the APC-led government in the state lacked administrative principles and policies that would usher in democratic dividends to rural dwellers that could alleviate their plights and bring purposeful governance in the state.

Receiving the defectors, the state PDP governorship candidate, Senator Yakubu Lado Danmarke, said if elected as governor of the state in 2023, he would restore security and revamp small and medium enterprises in the state within his first 100 days in office.

He lamented that Jibia, a border town between Nigeria and Niger Republic, which used to be the hotbed of commercial activities in the state and Northern Nigeria, has been crippled due to what he termed bad leadership and government’s policies of the APC.

“Commercial activities of Jibia town have been crippled because of the bad leadership and policies of the APC government in the state and at the national level.
“When we come to power in 2023, by His grace, we will ensure that Jibia returns to its past glory as the window of economic activities in the entire country by restoring the security and economy of our state in our first 100 days in office,” he said.

PDP Chairman in the state, Hon. Salisu Yusuf Majigiri, represented by his Vice, Alhaji Lawal Uli, said, “We received 12,963 APC and NNPP members today (Saturday) into our great party the PDP. The defectors are from Jibia and Kaita local government areas alone”.