Ahead of next year’s general elections, the Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has dismissed the threat posed by the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, saying that he is not a major contender.
Okowa declared that Obi stand no chance because his party has no structure neither does it have adequate strong grassroots mobilisation that could make him meet the recommendations of the electoral act to win the presidential election.
Okowa made this known while speaking at a meeting of northern Christian youths, in Abuja, on Tuesday, asked Nigerians who are banking on him to have a rethink, suggesting that they check previous election statistics and be acquainted with the voting patterns of different geopolitical zones in Nigerians.
He said: ‘It’s important that we understand the politics of today. In 2015, Buhari won elections via the votes he got in northeast, north west, north central and south west. He lost heavily in south south and southeast, respectively. In 2019, it was same pattern’.
Read Also: Only Bridge-Builders Can Unite Nigeria In 2023 – Okowa
‘It’s evident that out of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria, any party that must win election must do well in four zones, or better still do very well in three zones, and face strong competition in the fourth zone to be able to win election. Victory is often determined by number and spread of votes.
‘Evidently, the Church in Nigeria is so passionate about the forthcoming elections, and for the unity and oneness of Nigeria, the same-faith ticket adopted by APC was not the right decision. Before now, APC is known to be strong in four geopolitical zones but that has changed.
‘PDP is known to be strong in north east, north central, south east and south south but the party didn’t do well in past elections in north east, even in north central, but the party has regained its strength in north west, north east and north central, while holding firmly its strength in south south. There is a pathway and hope for the PDP in the forthcoming elections.
‘APC has become weakened in north west, north east and north central, but has maintained its strength in south west. Evidently, APC’s vote is dwindling and map of coverage is going down while the map of coverage of PDP is expanding.
‘Lately, we are beginning to see the rise of Labour Party. The party might do well in south east, but outside the region, they have no strength and structure that will earned them victory in the polls. They might also do well in north central but not very strong. They don’t have structures in south west, south south, north west and north east. So, there’s no magic they can do to win the elections.
‘The danger is that the north central, south east where the party hope to get their votes from are traditionally strongholds of PDP. So the more votes you take out from those regions, the more the strength of PDP is reduced. If this happens, then what the church is trying to avoid will befall the church, which is for APC to win election again.’
PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, who also spoke at the event explained that the unique traits of Dr. Okowa, particularly his humility and other undisclosed personal qualities earned him the selection as the Vice Presidential candidate of PDP for the 2023 elections.