2023: I am Not Opposed to Zoning in Delta, Says Okowa

Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, has said he is not averse to zoning of governorship of the state in 2023 contrary to insinuations in some quarters.

Speaking through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Olisa Ifeajika, at Government House, Asaba, yesterday, Okowa said that it was also not true that he came to power through zoning consensus as being canvassed by some highly-placed indigenes of the state.

He said that it was imperative to put the records straight in order not to mislead the people of the state and other Nigerians.

“It’s not true that the Governor of this state, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, is opposed to zoning, particularly for the governorship of this state.

“The times he spoke, it was loud and clear. He said that God will help Deltans to determine who will take over from him.

“But even at that, he told Deltans that at the right time, the leadership of the PDP will sit down to decide who the governor will be and after that, leave it to God to decide ultimately as he cannot play the role of God.

“That has been his position; so, it’s not true that the governor is opposed to power moving to Delta Central or any other senatorial district for that matter,”Ifeajika said.

He further said that the insinuations making the rounds that the governor came to power through zoning were wrong because people from other senatorial districts participated in the primaries that brought him to power.

He said that there was no time in the history of the state that any primary for governorship was allowed as an exclusive preserve of any senatorial district.

“The insinuation that it was through zoning that Okowa became governor is also wrong. We are all witnesses to the primaries that brought him to power, persons from the other senatorial districts in the state other than Delta North, participated in the exercise.

“There was no time in the state, particularly in this present dispensation that any primary for governorship has been allowed to be for only one particular senatorial district.

“In all the records we have, primaries had been for all comers; people from all the senatorial districts always participated in all of that.