Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, the former governor of Delta State who served as Atiku Abubakar's running mate in the 2023 presidential election, has said he now supports President Bola Tinubu's re-election campaign. He made the declaration on Saturday at the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign rally in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, according to Vanguard News.
Okowa told the crowd he had "seen the light," adding that the country was now headed in the right direction because the president was putting down a firm foundation. The remark marked a public break with his former ticket and an endorsement of the man he once campaigned against.
He also cautioned against bringing back the fuel subsidy, arguing that those who had damaged the country's foundations through the subsidy system should not be given the chance to harm the prospects of the next generation. Vanguard News reported his comments from the rally.
Why it matters
Okowa's shift carries weight beyond one rally speech. As a former running mate to Atiku, his move to the ruling party's camp hands the APC a prominent opposition figure from the South-South, a region where the party has historically struggled. It also sharpens the contrast between the 2023 opposition coalition and the incumbent's 2027 lineup, and gives the Tinubu campaign a talking point about cross-party support as it courts voters in the Niger Delta.
The rally itself was framed as a show of force in Rivers State, which the party is treating as a stronghold heading into the January 16 election.
Party sets a 2.3 million vote target in Rivers
At the same event, Senator Abdulaziz Yari, director general of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, set a target of 2.3 million votes for Tinubu in Rivers State. He described the figure as reachable, noting that roughly 2.8 million Permanent Voter Cards had been collected from about 3.3 million registered voters in the state, according to Vanguard News.
Yari urged supporters to work with Federal Capital Territory Minister Nyesom Wike to deliver those votes, and said the party expected no less than 80 percent support in Rivers.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio said Rivers was the only state in the South-South that Tinubu won convincingly in 2023, and expressed confidence the result would be repeated. He also claimed that Nigeria now earns more revenue from taxation than from crude oil under the current administration.
APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda called the Tinubu-Shettima ticket "the best for now in Nigeria," while Senator Magnus Abe defended the Rainbow Coalition in the state, saying its central aim was to return the president to power. All remarks were reported by Vanguard News.
A South-South push
The Port Harcourt rally fits a broader effort by the ruling party to consolidate the South-South, where Okowa's endorsement is meant to signal that former opponents are now aligned with the president. The Nation Newspaper reported that Okowa used the occasion to urge the region to join Tinubu in building what he called a new Nigeria, while New Telegraph carried his claim that he had seen the light and that the president was building a new country.
Okowa's defection from the Atiku camp had already been signaled in earlier coverage, with Daily Post Nigeria reporting his decision to leave Atiku for Tinubu under the headline "I have seen the light." Saturday's rally was the most direct public explanation he has given for the switch.
What to watch: whether Okowa's endorsement translates into votes in Rivers and the wider South-South when the January 16 election is held, and whether other figures from the 2023 opposition follow him into the APC fold.
