Senator Ifeanyi Okowa has pushed back hard against Bukola Saraki over criticism of his recent defection to the All Progressives Congress, accusing the former Senate President of hypocrisy.
Speaking Tuesday, April 29, on The Morning Show on Arise Television, the former Delta State Governor said Saraki, who had himself switched political parties in the past, should not be the one pointing fingers.
“I did not expect that someone like Senator Bukola Saraki should be able to speak concerning me, because he knows that he had also moved to APC before and eventually return,” Okowa said.
“So he has had movement to and fro. So, I don’t think that he has the moral right to even speak about my defection at all.”
On Monday, Okowa, along with current Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and several top political appointees, officially dumped the Peoples Democratic Party and joined the APC. The mass defection effectively collapsed the PDP’s structure in the state.
READ ALSO: My Defection to APC for Delta’s Best Interest — Okowa
In response, Saraki released a strongly worded statement, calling Okowa’s defection “shocking and unbecoming,” especially given that he ran as the PDP’s vice-presidential candidate in 2023.
“It is shocking and unbecoming. It’s simply a sign of how low we have sunk as a polity,” Saraki said.
But Okowa defended the move, saying it wasn’t a personal decision but a collective one made by Delta political stakeholders who believe the PDP no longer offers a stable platform.
“Several things have been going on in the party. While I do not want to join issues with people, as stakeholders, our leaders in this state have sat down to look at the events in the last several months, and because of the events that we see and the communications coming out from the leadership of the PDP at the moment, it did not appear to us that that was a proper political vehicle for us to continue in,” he said.
Okowa added that the PDP’s internal crisis and resistance to coalition-building are signs the party is not prepared for the 2027 elections.