By Haruna Salami
As the 2023 presidential race gathers momentum, a group operating under the aegis of Northern Professionals Forum (NPF) has called on the Governor of Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa to run for presidency.
The forum in a statement in Kano which was made available to journalists, said they have taken cognisance of the Delta governor’s track record of infrastructural and socio-economic development of the State in his barely seven years, which they believed would be brought to bear at the national level as President of Nigeria.
The body which is comprised of professionals from diverse fields noted that governance cannot be left in the hands of those who least understand what infrastructural, human capital and socio-economic development is all about in the guise of politics, adding that Okowa should “throw his hat into the ring, now that the opportunity beckons”.
The statement signed by the group’s National Coordinator, Dr. Saleh Mohammed and the Secretary, Hajia Hannatu Garba, pointed out that it further serve the interest of Nigerians, if the visionary leadership of Okowa was brought to bear on the presidency.
They described Senator Okowa as highly urbane for protecting non-indigenes in Delta State for the past seven years, a situation, the group posited has given the governor deep and genuine contacts across the north and other regions of the country.
“As professionals, we haven’t lost touch with Senator Ifeanyi Okowa’s track record of huge infrastructural development as governor of Delta State in the last seven years.
“We see 2023 general election as opportunity for him to contest presidency, notwithstanding those who have indicated interest for the plum job.
“Okowa’s blend of professional and political ideas would be a nexus for unity of the nation and given his humane nature who is capitally detribalised in handling the State affairs, it is incumbent on us as a northern-based group to call on him to contest’, the forum said.
The group further argued that Delta State in the last seven years was not the same thing of today in terms, of security of lives and property, infrastructure, human capital development and socio-economic development of the state, which they said was as a result of his professional background.
The group called on “like minds” across other zones to raise their voices on drafting Delta governor into the presidential race.
Okowa is a medical doctor by profession and former Senator who won his governorship election in Delta in 2015 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
