•Saraki, Tambuwal, Mohammed, Hayatu-Deen, visit Delta governor
Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba
Delta Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, yesterday said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was working hard to rescue the country from the hardship being meted on Nigerians by the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government.
Okowa stated this at a rally at Ughelli Township Stadium where a former member of the PDP, Chief Jaro Egbo and his group were received back to the party from the APC.
The governor lauded youths in the state for ensuring that peace reigned across the land, saying that women and youths were so important in the politics of the state.
He also commended governorship and other aspirants for elective positions on the party’s platform for their sense of responsibility in their consultations, adding that the PDP remained one big family.
“Let me thank our brother Olorogun Jaro Egbo and his ‘High Voltage’ movement for deeming it fit to return home.
“PDP is well able to take over presidency but we have to be very strong and courageous
“Nigerians have suffered enough and they are tired; so, we must give them hope that there will be light at the end of the tunnel,” a statement quoted him to have said.
Okowa charged party faithful to go forth and convince more people to join the PDP in its quest to rescue the Nigeria from maladministration.
“We have always won in Ughelli North but they usually write results in one ward and we will not allow anybody to write results again.
“Every man with his vote must count and and I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt that in 2023, we will win in all parts of Delta Central,” he stated.
The Chairman of PDP in the state, Chief Kingsley Esiso, thanked the returnees for coming back home to join the party to rescue Nigeria from the grip of the APC.
He appreciated aspirants and their followers in the party for conducting themselves creditably and urged them to continue in that stead.
“Nigerians are tired of what is happening today in the country as the APC government has turned the country into poverty capital and a state of terror.
“We must chase APC out of Nigeria, we intend to chase them out of Ask Rock and Delta State will lead the charge,” Esiso stated.
Chairman , PDP Ughelli North, Kesiena Nomuoja said the Okowa administration has done a lot to develop the local government assuming that PDP will triumph across board in the 2023 general election.
Leader of the decampees, Chief Jaro Egbo thanked Governor Okowa and the leadership of the party in the state for welcoming them back.
“In 2015, the APC made a lot of promises to Nigerians which they didn’t fulfill instead they plunged Nigerians into further economic and security crisis.
“Now that we are back home, the PDP will start the winning for 2023 here in Ughelli North,” he stated.
Saraki, Tambuwal, Mohammed, Hayatu-Deen Visit Okowa
Meanwhile, former President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, yesterday reiterated the determination of the presidential aspirants from northern Nigeria, under the PDP to produce a consensus candidate.
Saraki, who made the assertion in Asaba, yesterday, stressed that such a consensus arrangement would engender the much desired unity in the country in 2023.
The ex-senate president and also former governor of Kwara State, was in the Delta State capital at the head of delegation that included three other PDP presidential hopefuls – Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State and Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State as well as former Managing Director of FSB International Bank Plc, Alhaji Mohammad Hayatu-Deen, to consult with Okowa.
The delegation had earlier had a private meeting with Okowa, ostensibly to fine-tune their position around a consensus PDP candidacy in 2023.
The 37-man PDP zoning committee chaired by the governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom is expected to present its report today.
Nonetheless, Saraki stressed that Nigeria was in dire need of competent hands in central leadership to arrest the current drift of the country into the miry waters of poverty, insecurity and anarchy.
According to him, Nigeria was the largest economy in Africa under the PDP, but the country was now the poverty and kidnapping capital of the world under the All Progressives Congress (APC) Federal Government.
Saraki said, “We are here, the four of us, to discuss with Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on how to build consensus for our party ahead of the presidential election. We had a very useful discussion with the governor. We have decided to come as four of us who are aspiring to be president on the PDP platform.”
Turning to Okowa, who he noted always put the interest of Nigeria before self, Saraki said, “Your Excellency, you know your reputation for the PDP and the country is always first in your mind and ever since, when there is assignment that has to do with ensuring unity of the party you have always been called upon. That’s why we are here to meet with you and share with you what we have been trying to do.
“The four of us have been meeting and we came up with this idea that in the interest of the party, that we should come together and look at a consensus arrangement.
“This is important because we believe that the country needs unity. We are all eminently qualified to lead this country but we believe that only one person will lead and that person needs everybody to make Nigeria better and to fix this country.
“This also goes to show that this consensus arrangement is not just about the issue of the North but about Nigeria and to carry you along on what we intend to do.
“We have shared our thoughts with you and you have also shared your ideas with us on what we need to do and we can assure you that we are committed to this consensus process.
“This consensus is needed so that at the end of the day, PDP will be united to provide leadership for this country because the way the country is today, we need to fix it, we need to tackle the issue of insecurity and unemployment.”
Responding, Okowa thanked the visitors for coming to intimate him on their plans, and said that consensus candidacy was indeed in the best interest of the unity of the party and the country.
Okowa said, “I truly want to welcome you to Delta state. I have listened to you and the fact that you have started to meet together to think of the best way possible for us to get out of the very difficult situation we have found ourselves as a country, is very heart-warming.
“I thank you for putting yourselves together to educate the rest of us from across various states on the need for us to build a consensus.
“I believe that it will reduce acrimony and help to position us as a party in order to help to compete favourably and win the 2023 elections.
“There’s no doubt that God has favoured us and placed us in a good position to be able to win the elections but we need to also take some human actions that will enable us give strength to ourselves.
“This action that four of you have taken today is actually a step in the right direction. It will strengthen us and pull us together.
“It is my prayer that God will help you achieve this consensus that you seek to build because in that consensus, we will be united as a party, which will give a lot of hope to Nigerians, that truly, PDP is working the talk.
“I think that this is the kind of thing that we need at the moment and as you take this step forward, may God give you the strength to be able to engage the rest of our brothers across this nation.
“We hope that at the end, we would be in a place to say yes, we have really strengthened the PDP and that we are in a better position than other political parties to compete.”
