Okowa clarifies reports of endorsing a successor

Ifeanyi Okowa, the Delta State Governor has clarified his stance over reports he might have endorsed a particular candidate as his successor ahead of the 2023 elections.

Okowa made this clarification on Thursday via a statement issued by the Commissioner for Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, in Asaba.

He noted that he had not endorsed anybody as his successor while stating that some aspirants are using his name to gain traction for their campaigns.

The statement reads, “everybody knows that the governor has recorded a number of achievements, and it is believed and rightly so that any direction he shakes his body will have a whole lot of advantage because he has been able to add a whole lot of values to the promises he made.

“If in that light because they believe the name of the governor is capable of giving them an advantage, you can’t blame them, and we are not going to fight them for using the name of the governor because they are trying to associate themselves with what is good.

Read also: PDP prepared to take over in 2023 —Okowa

“At the end of the day, we are going to have one governorship candidate in the PDP. The governor’s pedigree is quite high and everybody wants to have that covering.

“If you go and meet him to say you want to run, you are being courteous. Naturally, he will not ask you to stop because it is assumed that you have accessed and you have the capacity to run.

“And if you believe that because he did not ask you to stop, that it is an endorsement, there is nothing wrong with it.

“So the governor hopes that anybody who is contesting will use the sanest words; have respect for one another; recognize the fact that we are one family; recognize the need for us to sustain the development trajectory in the state.”

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