Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state has clinched the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship ticket for a second tenure, with 3,252 votes at the PDP governorship primary held on Sunday, at the Cenotaph, in Asaba, the Delta State capital.
The primary was attended by the former Governor of the state, James Ibori; immediate past Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Ovuozourie Macaulay, party chieftains and delegates from across the 20 local government areas of the state.
The voting process, which was conducted by officials from the national headquarters of the party in Abuja, was supervised by officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Announcing the results shortly after collation of votes, Chairman of the PDP gubernatorial primary election in Delta State, Mrs Uzo Nwandu, declared Okowa winner of the primary, stating that out of the 3,278 accredited delegates from different local government areas of the state, 26 invalid votes were counted, while 3,252 votes went to him.
The primary election, which was conducted under tight security, saw Okowa return unopposed, and he will fly the party’s flag at the 2019 governorship election.
In his acceptance speech, the Governor thanked the party and delegates for the trust and confidence reposed in him and promised to rapidly scale up his administration’s empowerment and job creation programmes.
Okowa also re-echoed his desire to run with his deputy, Kingsley Burutu Otuaro, come 2019, noting that the PDP in Delta is a family.
He said: “We are very proud of this family and because we realise that we are a family. PDP has insisted that there will be equitable process where there is justice and fairness because we are one family, the PDP endorsed my candidature in 2014 and I went through by the special grace of God during the elections and we won. Today, in your belief for equity, justice and fairness, the party has returned me unopposed as its candidate.
“I am very grateful and I thank you for being a party that reasons that we can only be a family when there is equity and fairness. I want to assure you that we will continue to remain strong under the leadership of our leader, Chief James Ibori. This party will remain focused; this party will be about Delta, and we shall continue to ensure that we are strengthened enough to be recognised very strongly in national politics.”
Addressing the delegates before the commencement of voting, Ibori charged Deltans to support Okowa in the forthcoming election.