By Ahmad Tijjani Abdul
Kano
Delta state governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa Tuesday night said the decision by the ruling party to float a faith-based ticket for 2023 presidential election amid current challenges in the country was a betrayal of trust.
Okowa who spoke with newsmen in Kano explained that Muslim Muslim ticket should not be the way out “in a country that you have a shaky foundation, where people are getting sensitive to issues.
He said “It is unfortunate what we see in Nigerian politics today because there are so many conversations out there, people are not really looking at the reality that we have in this country, but the question is, in a fractured country where you have voices of dissent, people don’t seem to trust each other any more .”
The PDP Presidential running mate stressed:
“In a country that you have a shaky foundation, where people are getting sensitive to issues because of high level of failure of trust , if you go for a Muslim Muslim ticket that trust deficit becomes more pronounced, so there are issues”
The soft spoken Delta born politician lamented that “Unfortunately, people are just hanging on anything, they want to reach out because they want votes, even at the detriment of their faith. I don’t believe that is the right way to go.”
The Delta governor said “In a country where every man in the south east is looking at different directions, the man in the north is looking at different directions, people from the south west have a voice of their own, when you put these together, we don’t need a soothsayer to tell you that something is really wrong.”
Okowa said there are so many voices of anger expressed in several ways and distortions on the foundation, and a fraction of the foundation that hold the country together, when you see such a thing you should be frightened for Nigeria. “
The PDP stalwart who described his emergence as running mate to Atiku Abubakar as “an act of God” said, “Unfortunately, many politicians pretend to speak the truth because they want to play politics. On my part , I try not to play much politics, I try to discuss issues.”
He however cautioned politicians thus: “When you play politics you need to be cautious”.
Dr. Okowa said Atiku’s stay at the Presidency for eight years has put him ahead of others, adding that the former Vice President pocesses the right qualities to move the country forward.
He said “Atiku is somebody who has the capacity,experience, calmness, wisdom and reac across Nigeria to be able to bring people to the table, gather a team together from day one and begin to proffer solutions to issues and build confidence to restart the country again.”
He posited that “Many of those who are currently jostling for the number one job can’t fit into this because, it requires some level of experience.”