In his interview on Arise Television, Okowa said he regretted running alongside Atiku in the 2023 presidential election, saying it contradicted the sentiments of his constituents in the South.
He said the South had expected that power should return to the region after President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
Okowa said aligning with a northern candidate hurt his standing at home.
“The issue regarding the presidential election in 2023 was a question of north-south politics. The people of the South were likely interested in a southerner becoming president after Buhari’s tenure.
“Yes, I ran under my party as vice-presidential candidate because I belonged to that political family, and at that time, it was the best choice. But I realised, even during the campaign, that our people were not interested in another northerner coming into power in 2023, and that became a major factor for me,” he said.
He said that while the choice had been made at the federal level and he had already been nominated as the PDP’s vice-presidential candidate, he later realised that he was out of sync with public opinion.
“So what happened was a question of, ‘Oh, I did not seem to follow the path and the thoughts of the people.’ I have advised myself that it is important that I need to go with the people—not because I want to believe in north-south politics—but generally, when you are a politician playing politics, the views of your people matter,” he said.
Okowa stated that the outcome of the presidential election in Delta State, where he lost, was evidence of public disapproval.
“From the views of our people, which were expressed in the presidential election in 2023, that is why I have also told you that I believe that in 2027, our people are still going to go for a southern candidate because they believe that it is still the turn of the South, and I need to align with the views of my people,” he stated.
He noted that although he lost Delta State in the presidential poll, the PDP won the governorship election three weeks later, highlighting the choice voters made between his candidacy and that of the party at the state level.
Reacting to criticisms against his decision to leave the PDP, Okowa dismissed concerns about political morality, arguing that the PDP had strayed from its founding principles.
“The PDP that we had from the beginning, the PDP that we thought we tried to build… yes, the PDP was useful to me, but I was also a player in the PDP from the beginning, from the formative stage.
“But that PDP that was formed in 1998 does not appear to me to be the same PDP that we are running at the moment.
“When you are tired of what is going on, and you do not seem to understand what is going on in a place that you call home, then you probably have to step out and find another home,” Okowa said.
