Delta State Governor and vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, says solutions to the nation’s challenges were well-articulated in the party’s manifesto ordered toward rebuilding the country.

Okowa stated this while receiving no fewer than 5,000 former members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other political parties into the PDP in Asaba, the Delta State capital, on Monday.

The governor urged Nigerians to leverage the huge experience of the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to turn things around for the country having done so in the past when he served as Vice President and Chairman of the National Economic Council, and vote the Atiku-Okowa ticket.

“Atiku Abubakar is a man with great experience, having been vice president at a time Nigeria was troubled. Today, the issues are worse, not just because of the economy but security, which has gone so bad.

“I tell people that I am a child of grace; it is not by man’s power, because for me to have successfully occupied several offices from Secretary to Local Government, Chairman of Local Government Council, commissioner in several ministries, Secretary to the State Government, Senator and governor for eight years, comes with a huge experience.

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“Just today, 1,200 Deltans were empowered and we have done this over time to the chagrin of the opposition in the state, but we will continue to do that because we are investing in the future of the people of our state.

“A lot of youths have become very well established and we have been doing this over time.

“We have completed so many bridges and many are still ongoing, including in rural and riverside communities where many people thought development can never get to.

“When I started the State Secretariat building, they criticized us, saying how is he going to complete it? But today, it is completed and a great sight to behold along Maryam Babangida Road that was hitherto impassable before our administration,” Governor Okowa said.

The governor urged the defectors to join hands with other members of the party to rescue the country from the “grip of the inept” All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government.

Welcoming the decampees, the PDP chairman in the state, Kingsley Esiso, said APC had destroyed the nation’s unity, brought untold hardship, poverty, hunger, and insecurity to Nigerians, calling on the people to vote for the PDP.

Esiso said that the PDP was fully prepared to turn things around for the nation.

Speaking on behalf of the defectors, Israel Akegwure, Roland Iraro, Dr Bennis Agbonifo, and Julius Mallam-Obi, all regretted their time in APC, describing it as “a wasted period in darkness”.

They commended Governor Okowa for what he was doing for the people of the state, saying their sojourn in APC was un-impactful.

They assured that they would work hard to join hands with other people of Delta State and Nigerians to achieve victory for the party in the 2023 general election.

“The oppression in APC is beyond human comprehension. People are leaving Delta APC in droves because of its governorship candidate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege.

“Everything around him is Orogun, his community. How can the party thrive with such clannishness?” they stated.

The Star