{"id":160916,"date":"2025-04-29T23:05:21","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T22:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/saraki-has-no-moral-right-to-speak-about-my-defection-okowa"},"modified":"2025-04-30T19:57:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T18:57:38","slug":"saraki-has-no-moral-right-to-speak-about-my-defection-okowa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/saraki-has-no-moral-right-to-speak-about-my-defection-okowa","title":{"rendered":"Saraki has no moral right to speak about my defection \u2013 Okowa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The former presidential running mate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ifeanyi Okowa, has criticised former Senate President Bukola Saraki for berating him over his defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC.<\/p>\n

Last week, Okowa defected from PDP to APC and was officially received into the party on Monday.<\/p>\n

Following his defection, Saraki had said anyone who wished to leave the PDP \u201cshould leave now while the faithful ones concentrate on rebuilding the party and refocusing it to play the role of a viable opposition that will provide a better alternative for the good people of Nigeria\u201d.<\/p>\n

Faulting Saraki\u2019s remark, Okowa said the former Senate President had also moved to APC before returning to PDP.<\/p>\n

In an interview on Arise Television, Okowa said: \u201cI didn\u2019t expect somebody like Senator Bukola Saraki to be able to speak about me because he also moved to the APC before eventually returns.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he has the moral right to speak about my defection at all. Those who doubt my political reach should wait until the next election in 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t appear that a vehicle has been confirmed for that coalition, neither does it appear to us, as a state and as a political family, that the coalition was able to build strength within the short period of time available.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. The former presidential running mate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ifeanyi Okowa, has criticised former Senate President Bukola Saraki for berating him over his defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC. Last week, Okowa defected from PDP to APC and was officially received into the party on Monday. Following his defection, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":160915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[254,1476,103],"class_list":["post-160916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-nigeria","tag-okowa","tag-saraki"],"yoast_head":"\nSaraki has no moral right to speak about my defection \u2013 Okowa - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The former presidential running mate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ifeanyi Okowa, has criticised former Senate P ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/saraki-has-no-moral-right-to-speak-about-my-defection-okowa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Saraki has no moral right to speak about my defection \u2013 Okowa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The former presidential running mate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Ifeanyi Okowa, has criticised former Senate P ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/saraki-has-no-moral-right-to-speak-about-my-defection-okowa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-29T22:05:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-30T18:57:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1745956679.482258.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/saraki-has-no-moral-right-to-speak-about-my-defection-okowa#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/saraki-has-no-moral-right-to-speak-about-my-defection-okowa\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Saraki has no moral right to speak about my defection \u2013 Okowa\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-29T22:05:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-30T18:57:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/saraki-has-no-moral-right-to-speak-about-my-defection-okowa\"},\"wordCount\":244,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/saraki-has-no-moral-right-to-speak-about-my-defection-okowa#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1745956679.482258.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Nigeria\",\"Okowa\",\"Saraki\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/saraki-has-no-moral-right-to-speak-about-my-defection-okowa#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/saraki-has-no-moral-right-to-speak-about-my-defection-okowa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/saraki-has-no-moral-right-to-speak-about-my-defection-okowa\",\"name\":\"Saraki has no moral right to speak about my defection \u2013 Okowa - 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