As the heat over the 2023 governorship election gathers momentum, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has come out to say that the gentleman agreement which allows each senatorial District in the state to produce governor was not signed by any formal gathering.
In a press conference with journalists on Wednesday, the governor said: “the gentleman agreement is agreement that is not written. But whether there was any formal meeting in which the agreement was reached, there was no formal meeting in which that agreement was reached.
“There has been no formal meeting, so, it means whatever we are doing today is about what is fair, equitable and just. It’s only God that knows who will be governor after me. I don’t know who God will bring. I know God will take the decision of who will be governor.
“But at a point in time we will sit down and look at issues to find out what truly should be fair and just. Where the governorship is going I think you should pray and ask God to reveal to you.”
But in 2019 when the governor was campaigning for re-election, he was said to have promised handing over power to an Urhobo man in 2023. During that campaign promise reportedly made in Udu in 2019, there was no need telling Deltans that they should pray to God for direction of where 2023 governorship pendulum would swing.
Former Governor James Ibori, the father of Delta politics, was reported in 2019 to have said that the rotational agreement remains sacrosanct. In a report published by The Vanguard on September 16, 2019, with the title: “Okowa will handover to Urhobo in 2023- Ibori, Oyovbaire, others,” Ibori said the rotational system was not negotiable.
He was quoted as saying: “Governor Okowa during his campaign promised to handover to Delta Central and as a gentleman and promise keeper, we have no doubt in our minds that he will do everything within his God given power to adhere strictly to his promise.
“We expect all genuine members of PDP to comply with the power rotation agreement. It is for the good of all, majority and minority, the weak and strong, for balanced society.
“Equity, justice and good conscience are some of the major pillars of constitutional democracy. Hence, PDP in Delta encourages power rotation to enable both the majority and minority and or ethnic nationalities via senatorial districts power arrangement to produce governor and that agreement remains sacrosanct.”
