By Amos Tauna The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum ( SMBLF) has rejected the presidential running mate to former Vice Presiden...
By Amos Tauna
The Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum ( SMBLF) has
rejected the presidential running mate to former Vice President, Atiku
Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
governor of Delta State, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa for accepting his nomination to run
for the 2023 general elections.
A statement issued by leaders of SMBLF, Chief Edwin Clark,
for the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders’ Forum (SMBLF) and the Pan Niger Delta
Forum (PANDEF), Chief Ayo Adebanjo, leader of Afenifere, Dr. Dru Bitrus, the President-General,
Middle Belt Forum and Prof. George Obiozor, the President-General, Ohaneze
Ndigbo Worldwide described Governor Okowa as “a betrayal of the highest order”
for accepting the vice president slot.
The statement noted that the 17 governors of the Southern
States, both of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives
Congress (APC), under the Chairmanship of the Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi
Akeredolu, met in Asaba, the capital of Delta State on May 11, 2021, and took
far-reaching decisions, that based on the principles of fairness, equity and
justice, the presidency should rotate to the South at the end of the statutory
eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure.
It stated that the Southern governors later met again in Lagos,
on July 5, where they reaffirmed their decision, and again in Enugu, on
September 16, to restate the call that the presidency should rotate to the
South in 2023.
According to the statement, “It is unspeakable and quite
disappointing that Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, who is currently Chairman of the
South-South Governors’ Forum, and a native of Owa-Alero in Ika North-East Local
Government Area (one of the Igbo-speaking areas) of Delta State, would exhibit
such barefaced unreliability.”
The statement lamented that it was most unfortunate that
Okowa, who should know better, accepted his appointment as running mate to
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
The forum noted that it had nothing personal against Ifeanyi
Okowa, but described his action as “treacherous and tantamount to a despicable
pawning of the political future of the people of Southern Nigeria.”
Governor Okowa has, according to the statement, by his
action, betrayed the trust reposed on him by his colleagues, the southern
governors, the entire good people of southern Nigeria and all well-meaning
Nigerians.
It stated that he has made himself persona non grata, not
only with SMBLF but all citizens who treasure their oneness and yearn for a
more united and peaceful Nigeria.
The statement opined that it is not a matter of loyalty to
one’s political party but rather a greedy, parochial and unpatriotic action
committed against the general interest of his State, Delta State, the Niger
Delta region and Southern Nigeria.
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