Okowa In Trouble

<h4> Okowa In Trouble<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that Delta state Governor Ifeanyi Okowa who doubles as the presidential running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar on the joint presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party&comma; PDP in the February 25 election&comma; is in trouble&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He has been accused of using money belonging to Delta people to fund his campaign with Atiku&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The accusation came from former Federal Commissioner for Information and South South Leader&comma; Chief Edwin Clark who has asked Okowa to resign from being the running mate of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;As of June 30&comma; 2022&comma; Delta State was among the States in Nigeria with the highest domestic debt figures&period; The debt stock of Delta State skyrocketed from N163&comma;478&comma;454&comma;259&period;54 in March 2022 to N378&comma;878&comma;236&comma;830&period;76 in June&comma; representing over 100 percent increase within three months&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Probably jolted by this discouraging development&comma; Clark&comma; the Leader of Pan Niger Delta Forum&comma; PANDEF and Southern and Middle-Belt Leaders Forum&comma; SMBLF&comma; in a letter dated February 2&comma; 2023&comma; addressed to Governor Okowa&comma; said that the Governor and Atiku will not win the presidency on joint ticket&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;While addressing journalists on Wednesday at his Asokoro residence in Abuja&comma; Clark noted that Okowa went contrary to the resolutions of southern governors and other stakeholders that no politician from the South should accept to be running mate to a northerner and particularly&comma; Atiku Abubakar&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The letter reads in part&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It would be recalled in 2007&comma; that Delta State finances were used in funding part of the election of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua through the directive of <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">President Olusegun Obasanjo<&sol;a>&period; We were therefore not surprised when you too have decided to finance Atiku Abubakar with Delta People’s money because&semi; there is nobody to challenge you&period; I repeat&comma; you will not succeed&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It is therefore in your own interest to openly apologise to your colleagues of both APC and PDP whom you deceived in taking a decision you never believed in&period; After your unreserved apology to your people and Southern Nigeria&comma; you should step down your ambition of becoming Vice-Presidential candidate of the PDP&period; There your honour lies&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;