By Austin Ogwuda
ASABA — DELTA State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, has thrown his weight behind the candidacy of the immediate past Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, for the Senate in the 2011 general elections.
Okowa is contesting the Delta North Senatorial district race on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

While eulogizing Okowa for his positive contributions during his tenure as the SSG, the Governor dismissed speculations that Okowa was forced to resign because of a  misunderstanding between  them. The Governor spoke, weekend, during a send forth party organised by the state government in honour of the former SSG.

Said he, “the truth is that when his resignation was announced, I got a lot of distress calls from many parts of the country, they were saying, we hope he did not resign because we were quarreling or we had disagreements and I said no, that he resigned because he needed time to face his aspiration.

“All I can wish him is that God will grant him his heart’s desire. As a friend and a brother, if he requires my assistance in achieving his aspiration, I will do my best.”

Also speaking, many notable stakeholders  in Delta  North senatorial district interviewed, including the former Deputy Governor Chief Benjamin Elue, Chief Mike Okwechime and Nkem Okwuofum said they were happy that Okowa was running for the seat, describing him as a go-getter.

Responding, Okowa also confessed that immediately he  resigned, he too was inundated with text messages, which he can categorise in three parts, noting that the third group did not wish him well.

According to him, “they were not welcoming me into their fold but they thanked God the quarrel has come up in the open. Now, His Excellency and Dr. Okowa have parted ways.

“For those that wished it so, I am sure that the events of  today, have disappointed them all. So your Excellency,  I thank you very much for putting up this gathering  to honor me. I am very pleased. As you have chosen to honour me, my prayer for you is that God will honour you even more now and always.

“I must confess that I have had a very robust relationship with the Governor right from our days in the GDM. I knew him very well, our families knew each other.  But I had very challenging time as Secretary to the State Government. At a point in time, I got very worried about what was going on in the politics of Delta State,” he added.