Delta State Governor, Dr.  Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, has emerged as the vice presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.  The party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, named Okowa as his running mate Thursday afternoon in Abuja.

The announcement was made ahead of INEC’s Friday 6pm deadline for the submission of names of vice presidential candidates by political parties. 

Atiku described him as vice president in waiting. He said he found him disciplined and committed enough to his ticket.

The vice presidential candidacy of Okowa, 62, a Christian from the oil rich Niger Delta region, will complement the presidential candidacy of former Vice President Atiku, a Muslim from the North east.

Born in Owa-Alero in Ika North-East Local Government Area of Delta State, Okowa attended the famous Edo College, from where he proceeded to the University of Ibadan where he obtained his degree in Medicine and Surgery. He started practice as a medical officer with the Bendel State Hospitals Management Board before he went into private practice in 1986 as director of Victory Medical Centre.

He began his political career in the aborted Third Republic when he became the Secretary of Ika Local Government, before serving as chairman of the council from 1991-1993. He also served as coordinator of the Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM) for Delta North.

Okowa, a founding member of PDP, served at various times as Delta  State  commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Water Resources Development, and Health. In the build up to the 2007 election, he resigned from office and vied for the PDP governorship ticket, which he lost. He was later appointed as the Secretary to the Delta State Government.

In 2011, Okowa was elected as senator representing Delta North on the platform of PDP. He was later elected governor of Delta State on the platform of PDP in 2015 and reelected for a second term in 2019.