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From Paul Osuyi, Asaba
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State on Monday boasted that nobody, except God, could block his chances of becoming the running mate to the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Abubakar Atiku.
Okowa said he has contributed positively to the growth of the party, which he does not brag about, as a true party man.
The governor was reacting through his Commissioner for Information, Charles Aniagwu, to speculations that the former governor of the state, James Ibori, was secretly working against his chances to be Atiku’s running mate.
Aniagwu who acknowledged that Ibori remained a political leader in the state, debunked rumours of rife between the two politicians.
He attributed such rumours to the handiwork of fifth columnists, insisting that Ibori would never work against Okowa’s interest.
“The governor has contributed to the growth of the PDP, he doesn’t boast about it because as a member of the party he has the responsibility to do that.
“You also know how many times the party brought him in to assist in conducting primaries.
“I am not aware if there is anybody who is bringing any roadblock, if there is anybody who is going to block Okowa, I think it should be God.
“And the last time I checked I don’t think he has offended God for God to take that decision against him.
“So we are on course, I don’t think there is any problem between Okowa and Ibori, these are persons who have worked together very closely.
“And Okowa has continued to respect our leader, James Ibori. I have not heard Ibori speak evil of Okowa neither have I heard my boss speak bad of Ibori,” he said.
On allegation by the Deputy Senate President and governorship candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Ovie Omo-Agege, that the state government has received over N700 billion in the last seven years with nothing on the ground to show for it, Aniagwu said the APC candidate was not capable of governing the state if he could not put together simple statistics.
According to him, the state government has always budgeted about N150 billion as recurrent expenditure yearly since 2015, explaining that recurrent expenditure has always recorded a hundred per cent budget performance because the state has never defaulted on payment of salaries.
Aniagwu stated that with N150 billion annually, it even exceeded the N700 billion that Omo-Agege is alleging was wasted.
He reeled out the successes of the Okowa administration in the areas of roads, flood control, air transportation, civil service secretariat, and empowerment programmes, among others, which he noted, have positively impacted on Deltans in the past seven years.
