Delta 2027: Oborevwori, Omo-Agege flex muscles
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By Emma Amaize, Regional Editor, South-South, & Ochuko Akuopha
Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, the former Deputy Senate President (DSP), has been disquieted since Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, the governor of Delta State, defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and seized the leadership of the party in the state from him.
Obarisi Omo-Agege, the Delta APC 2023 gubernatorial candidate, has reason to be demurred. The Government House in Asaba, the state capital, which he wished to occupy in 2027, for which he had earlier served Oborevwori a quit notice, is becoming elusive by the day.
As an experienced politician familiar with the way politics is played in Nigeria, he knows it is difficult to halt an incumbent governor in the same party from grabbing a re-election ticket.
Less than a month after Oborevwori joined the APC from the PDP on April 27, he was able to take control of nearly 70 percent of the party’s structure, with the state executive members of the party, selected by Omo-Agege, standing strongly by him.
Omo-Agege saw his men deserting him for the new sheriff in the party. But he was powerless to halt the tide to date. The governor planned to take over the remaining structure at the next Congress.
The party held a series of meetings at the state and local levels after the governor’s defection, which Omo-Agege did not attend. At one or two gatherings in his area, the party leaders validated President Bola Tinubu and Oborevwori for the 2027 polls.
The actions of party leaders and members previously loyal to him compelled the former DSP to reposition to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to re-strategize.
Omo-Agege’s anger—Loyalist
A source loyal to the erstwhile Delta APC leader told Saturday Vanguard that the governor had not done the needful, adding, “The way forward depends on the governor. He came into a house that had already been built by someone to contest the position against him.”
“He came to meet him (Omo-Agege) as the leader of the party. However, by the party’s constitution, the governor is the automatic leader of the party. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the governor to see how best they can meet and accommodate him and his supporters.
”They should discuss, and the governor can propose, for instance, that there is room for him (Omo-Agege) to go back to the Senate, and since the Senate presidency has been zoned to the South-South, they can work to project him to secure the position or another principal position in the Senate.
”If the governor is making all these moves and the man rejects them, all his moves will be known to the public. If he continues to be rigid, the people will not be happy with him, and they will ask if he expects the governor to leave the seat for him.”
”Sheriff Oborevwori is the governor; he presides over the state. The governor is supposed to meet with him to discuss the sharing of councillors, boards, the state executive council, and other appointive positions.
”We should not forget that it is not the entire PDP in the state that came with him to the APC. Some are still in PDP, and the people he should use to fill the ones that didn’t come with him are those that he met in the APC.”
Why Oborevwori is watchful – Party leader
An APC leader, who dismissed the contentions of the Omo-Agege camp, said, “I believe that before any governor in Nigeria will defect to a party, he must have been assured of total submission to him as the leader of the party. It is very clear that the governor was assured of the structure of the party before the defection.”
”After the defection, a series of meetings have been held at the state level to which Omo-Agege was invited but did not attend. The APC in Ughelli North, his local government, held a unity meeting, and he also kept away.
”He was also invited to the Delta Central unity meeting. He refused to attend and even instructed his supporters not to attend. He also did not participate in the South-South zonal meeting. From his body language, it is clear that he is nursing the ambition of running for the governorship seat in 2027.
”Now put yourself in the shoes of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori; the other person is looking for the same seat that he (the governor) is occupying and which, by the grace of God, Oborevwori will occupy till 2031. If you were the governor, would you unite with such a person? You cannot reconcile anything with your archrival.
”Let’s assume that they even want to come together; knowing that he wants to run for the governorship, he would ask for a lion’s share of the positions.
”The governor is the leader of the party by the APC constitution. Oborevwori is a serving governor; you don’t expect the governor to meet him at home. The founding leader of the APC in the state, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor, and the first governorship candidate of the APC visited the governor at the Government House in Asaba.
”So, if someone who founded and built the party before Omo-Agege came in and hijacked the party from him can visit the governor, why can’t he?
”Rather, what we are seeing are Omo-Agege’s supporters holding meetings where they have said they stand behind him for governorship. Recently, some of his supporters held a solidarity march in Ughelli to reiterate his interest in the governorship.
”Such a person who wants to go for governorship, do you call him to say, ‘Let us reconcile the state executive council positions and share political appointments?’
Crossfire over solidarity walk for Omo-Agege
Indeed, Omo-Agege’s supporters held a solidarity walk for him in Delta State while he was already in Abuja and planned another march for President Tinubu and him.
The state APC executive, led by Elder Omeni Sobotie, however, intervened on August 4, chiding the organizers. Mr. Valentine Onojeghuho, the state publicity secretary, described the planned walk as illegal and unauthorized.
He said, ‘The attention of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Delta State, under the chairmanship of Elder Omeni Sobotie, has been drawn to a proposed event titled ‘Solidarity Walk in Support of DSP Ovie Omo Agege,’ being organized by certain individuals under the guise of party loyalists.
“The party wishes to state categorically and unequivocally that no such event was ever sanctioned, approved, or endorsed by the leadership of the APC in Delta State.”
A group, the Concerned APC Progressives, Delta State Chapter, reacted to the party’s clampdown. It said, “This statement is not only disappointing, it is a dangerous affront to the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens of Delta State and members of the APC.”
”To label a peaceful and voluntary gathering as ‘unauthorized’ is not just intellectually dishonest—it is politically repressive and beneath the standard of a truly progressive party.
”We urge the Delta State APC leadership to rise above factional insecurities. Unity is not achieved through suppression; it is nurtured through respect for diversity of expression and inclusiveness in party engagement,” the group stated.
Since the party leadership warned against the solidarity walk, the organizers retreated for about two weeks. But we learned that a solidarity walk for President Tinubu and Omo-Agege, tagged “street endorsement,” was scheduled to hold in Kwale, Delta North senatorial district, yesterday (Friday).
What I told Oborevwori and Omo-Agege — Nwaoboshi
Despite the ongoing plotting and counter-plotting for the 2027 gubernatorial ticket, no political leader had boldly come out to voice the things happening behind closed doors until Senator Nwaoboshi, the former chairman of the Senate Committee on the Niger Delta and a close ally of Omo-Agege, blew the lid off a few days ago.
Senator Nwaoboshi, alias Oracle, told Saturday Vanguard that he had counselled Omo-Agege not to challenge Oborevwori for the Delta ACP 2027 gubernatorial ticket.
His words, “I have told him (Omo-Agege) that he cannot run if he remains in the APC and the governor remains in the APC. He cannot win the party’s primary, and it will be difficult for him to win the election. I have had private meetings with him and told him my position.”
”When Chief James Ibori ran as governor for a second term, nobody challenged him in the gubernatorial primaries; when Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan ran for a second term, nobody challenged him; and when Senator Ifeanyi Okowa ran for a second term as governor, nobody challenged him. I am talking about gubernatorial primaries.
“Anybody who is telling him to run against Oborevwori is not telling you the truth, but I do not know if he changed his mind yesterday or two days ago.”
According to him, “Omo-Agege, to the best of my knowledge, is not running for the governorship under the platform of APC in 2027. I have advised him as a senior brother and someone older than him in politics.”
”I do not want people to blackmail him as somebody fighting the governor. I do not think that Omo-Agege, in his heart, wants that. Unless he changed his mind a few days ago. I have not spoken to him in the last two or three weeks.
”His only concern, which he has told me on a few occasions, is to be accorded due recognition as a former leader of the party in the state. You remember when people were challenging him then, and I said Omo-Agege is the leader of the party in the state. I challenged them to a debate. He is a former deputy president of the Senate in Nigeria.”
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