2023: Okowa boasts of PDP’s victory, Cross River guber candidate shun presidential campaign team

With electioneering campaigns gathering momentum across the country, the vice presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Senator  Ifeanyi Okowa, has said his party was taking over Aso Rock and Peregrino Government House,  Calabar as the All Progressives Congress (APC)  is occupying them on a temporary basis.

Okowa, who is also the incumbent governor of Delta state, said the party was on a mission to recover, rescue and rebuild Cross River state, the South-south zone and the nation from what he described as the “sinking ship of the APC.”

Speaking at the official opening ceremony of the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Campaign Office in Calabar weekend, Okowa lauded the leadership of the PCC in the state for the volume of work already done.

He said: “With the hard work of the council and the love Cross River people have shown for PDP, victory for the party is sure in the state and the South-south region. We are taking over Aso Rock in 2023 because the tenancy period of APC is expiring.” 

The chairman of Atiku/Okowa National Presidential Campaign Council, Governor  Udom Emmanuel, who inaugurated the PDP National Youth Campaign Council and the Women wing of the Presidential Campaign Council, said PDP has never lost any election in Cross River since 1999 till date.

Emmanuel said winning had been a culture in the state and in the South-south region and reiterated his belief that 2023 would not be different.  He said the South-South governors were united with the PDP family to win again.

Meanwhile, the lingering crisis in the party took another dimension in Cross River state when the governorship candidate of the party, Senator Sandy Onor, the State Chairman Vena Ikem and other leaders boycotted the commissioning of the party’s presidential office in Calabar.

The governors – Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Udom Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom, Douye Diri of Bayelsa and Godwin Obaseki of Edo State had arrived Calabar for the commissioning. To welcome them were former Governor Liyel Imoke and other leaders.

It was also noticed that Governor Nyesom Wike-led group, otherwise called G-5, did not attend the event.

Both Senator Onor and Ikem are strong political ally of Governor Nyesom Wike of River State who had vowed not to support Atiku/Okowa ticket, and their absence may not be unconnected to the commitment they may have entered.

Apart from the commissioning of the office, which is located along Ndidem Usang Iso road, the visiting governors also used the opportunity of their presence in the ancient city to inaugurate the youth and women wing of the presidential campaign council.