Why Tinubu Should Be Allowed To Complete His Eight-Year Tenure – Okowa

Former Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, has endorsed President Bola Tinubu to complete a full eight-year tenure.

Naijaonpoint reports that the 2023 Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in an interview on ARISE Television on Tuesday, April 29, 2025, urged Nigerians to support Tinubu’s administration till 2031 in the interest of national stability and continuity.

Okowa explained that there is a need to allow any elected president, including Tinubu, the time required to implement their programmes.

He said, “For the stability of this nation, I also do believe that, yes, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was elected president in 2023, and for the stability of Nigeria, it is best for us to have him complete his eight-year tenure. Then the presidency can move back to the North. I believe that that is the right thing.”

Speaking on the recent defection, Okowa stated that Delta State leaders, as a political family, moved from the PDP to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to restore Delta State to the corridors of Power in Nigeria.

According to him, the decision to defect to the APC, alongside Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and other political leaders in Delta State, was made after extensive consultations.

Okowa added that aligning with the party at the centre was the best strategic path for Delta State’s future.

He said, “We have a political family in the Delta state. Previously, we were in the PDP. But several things have been going on in the party, the People’s Democratic Party. While I do not want to join issues with people, but our 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. Because it did not also appear to us that PDP was ready to be competitive in the 2027 elections.

“Having looked at this very thoroughly, along with many other things that have been going on within the party, as to various court cases, as to who exactly is the national secretary of the party, and many other issues, we do not appear to be really ready for competition in the 2027 elections. So having looked at this, alongside the fact that we believe that as a political family in Delta state, we needed to be able to move ahead, to truly connect to the resources, as I did say yesterday, it’s not about a borrower. Yes, he’s the leader of the party as a governor. It’s not about me. It’s about the larger Delta state and the larger political family that we have.

“And I thought, in my own opinion, and in the opinion of the vast majority of leaders, because we had different levels of consultation. It was not just a question of a decision of the governor, or a decision between the governor and Dr. Okowa. We had various levels of meetings with several stakeholders, and even had to make consultations with some of our other leaders, who are not even politicians, before we came to this decision. And I think that our decision is right politically. I believe that we mean well for our people, and it is important for us to chart a path for ourselves that we think we can truly trust, and that could bring political gains to the people of Delta. And that was why the decision was taken.”