Former Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, is facing a political embarrassment of historic proportions as his own community has flatly rejected his attempt to sell the All Progressives Congress (APC) following his much-criticized defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The bombshell revelation was made by Professor Chris Nwokobia, respected public intellectual and convener of the Country First Movement, during a live interview on Arise TV.
According to Prof. Nwokobia, Okowa’s desperate push to legitimize his switch to the APC not only failed to resonate with his people, but was met with outright resistance, a clear indictment of the former governor’s declining political credibility.
“You saw the former Governor of Delta State, my senior brother Okowa, trying to sell the APC to the people in his community,” Nwokobia said. “And they said ‘No! This is not the party we know or believe in.”
This stunning rejection at the grassroots has sparked wider criticism of the APC’s current political tactics, which Nwokobia describes as “undemocratic, coercive, and desperate.”
He didn’t mince words: “The APC has become its own greatest enemy. Almost everything it does now undermines the core principles of democracy.”
He cited alarming examples of APC governors pressuring elected officials to resign if they refuse to defect, particularly pointing to troubling developments in Akwa Ibom State.
He accused the APC of orchestrating a national charade of mass defections, designed to manufacture an illusion of popularity ahead of the 2027 elections.
“From Kaduna to Abuja to Lagos, we’re seeing staged rallies and fake optics. This is not political momentum, it’s political manipulation,” Nwokobia asserted.
The real sting, however, lies in Okowa’s failure to persuade even his political base to join him in the APC. For a former governor, once seen as a power broker in the South-South, the community rejection is both humiliating and politically damaging.
“If your own people, those you governed for eight years, cannot walk with you into your new party, then the message is loud and clear, you no longer speak for them,” said one political observer following the interview.
Nwokobia didn’t stop there. He painted a picture of a ruling party consumed by paranoia and more focused on crushing opposition than governing effectively.
“The APC’s obsession with defections is just a cover for its fear of electoral defeat. It is abandoning governance to chase political control at any cost.”
He warned that the APC’s alleged infiltration of opposition parties through planted insiders is a dangerous threat to Nigeria’s democratic process.
“What we are seeing is not just politics; it’s a targeted sabotage of multiparty democracy in Nigeria,” Nwokobia concluded.
As 2027 approaches, Okowa’s political misfire may serve as a cautionary tale, proof that defections driven by self-interest, without grassroots backing, are not just futile but potentially career-ending.
