By Okey Bekee
All is not well with the Delta State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The party is in tatters at the grassroots level. Too much clash of egos. Not even President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is the leader of the APC in Nigeria could have imagined how rotten things were until recently when Rt Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, Governor of Delta, collapsed the entire structure of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and joined the APC.
On April 28, 2025, Vice President Kashim Shettima, on behalf of Tinubu as leader of the APC, u formally handed the leadership of the party in the state to Oborevwori. That historic ceremony has since been described as a tsunami, with expectations that future elections in the state will be an outright walk over for the APC as far as Delta is concerned.
A day earlier, Aviation Minister, Chief Festus Keyamo, SAN had led the three senators, Senator Ned Nwoko, representing Delta North Senatorial District, Senator Ede Dafinone, representing Delta Central Senatorial District and Senator Joel Onowakpo-Thomas representing Delta South Senatorial District, along with other key leaders on a courtesy visit and to pledge loyalty to Oborevwori.
Keyamo’s words to the Governor on that visit were unmistakable. It conveyed the meaning that there was no other leader outside those present during the courtesy call. The Minister told Oborevwori, “these are the gatekeepers of the APC in the state. We have come to formally submit to your leadership. Nobody is challenging your leadership and anyone who is not here is not relevant”.
Next day at the cenotaph, it was a different drama that played out. Vice President Shettima before publicly handing over the leadership of the APC in the state to the Governor introduced a new twist. He told Oborevwori that former Deputy Senate President (DSP), Senator Ovie Omo-Agege was his friend and advised that he should be carried along in the new dispensation. Thereafter, both the VP and former DSP both raised the Governor’s hands as a testament of his new position as leader.
The declaration of Keyamo and the public spectacle involving Vice President Shettima was a reflection of the deep division in the APC before Governor Oborevwori joined the party. Indeed, there was a near knife war of attrition that had fractured the party into several factions.
On one hand, the Aviation Minister had been parading a college of leadership headed by him that was in charge of the APC in the state. It was the same leadership that he led to pledge loyalty to Oborevwori. On the other hand, the former DSP kept insisting that he was the recognized and overall leader of the party.
Omo-Agege claimed that as a former number six person in the country and gubernatorial candidate of the APC in the 2023 election in the state, he was the highest political office holder, American the undisputed leader of the party. His assertion was midway upheld in a way by the National Working Committee (NWC) of the APC which ruled that the party’s Constitution did not recognize a structure known as “Collective leadership”.
Not even the intervention of President Tinubu at some point helped to resolve the impasse in the APC. Both groups carried on in total disregard for the other. Perhaps, they may still have been at each other’s throats had the Governor not taken the momentous decision, along with the entire political leadership in the PDP to join the APC.
Since joining the APC however, more divisions have since sprung up to test Oborevwori’s capacity to hold the party together and lead it to victory in the 2027 general elections. Obviously, the Governor did not bargain to be confronted and having to deal with several splinter groups in the party in the state.
It was gathered that former gubernatorial candidates of the APC, Chief O’tega Emehror and Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru, both former leaders of the APC in the state had consistently rejected Omo-Agege as overall leader. They have reportedly said that the former DSP surreptitiously usurped their leadership positions and could not now lay claim to even the leadership of the party in the Delta Central Senatorial District, since there’s an incumbent Senator, Dafinone in office.
In Delta North Senatorial District, a different war of attrition seemed to have played out. Senator Nwoko has tried repeatedly to foist his leadership on the zone. Even though he only recently joined the APC from the PDP, he insists that as the incumbent senator, that leadership should automatically be handed over to him.
But Senator Nwoko’s famed claim is reportedly being challenged on at least three fronts. On one hand is the former Governor of the state, Senator Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa and his supporters, who until the movement to the APC was in charge of Oborevwori’s political structure in Delta North. Apart from ensuring that Oborevwori succeeded him as Governor, Okowa was the Vice Presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 elections. His supporters insist that he should be defacto leader even in the APC.
On another front are supporters of Deputy Governor, Sir Monday Onyeme who argue that as the highest political office holder from Delta North, leadership should naturally devolve to me him. They make reference to the fact that when former Deputy Governor, Chief Benjamin Elue was in office, he functioned as leader of the party in Delta North Senatorial District.
Then there’s the long standing personal beef that has existed between Nwoko and Senator Peter Nwaoboshi. Both men fought for the Senate seat in the last elections. They have been daggers drawn for the control of the political structure of Anioma, consisting of Oshimili and Aniocha, Ndokwa/Ukwuani and Ika. But it must be stated that Senator Nwaoboshi joined the APC much earlier and called the shots for a while. He has reportedly refused to let go.
Apart from these reported mega wars that the Governor has had to confront, it was learnt that there are many factions in several local governments militating against his attempt at forging a united and stronger party. These divisions may have also become a huge distraction in ensuring that the APC gets massive votes in the 2027 elections.
The fractured picture in the old APC inherited by the Governor contrasts sharply with what obtains in the former PDP which collapsed it’s structure in solidarity with Oborevwori. Not only did leaders of the PDP agree to move to the APC, their actions were guided by respect for constituted authority and existing hierarchy.
Governor Oborevwori’s landmark defection from PDP to APC was heralded by a similar move by his deputy, Sir Onyeme, Chief of Staff, Prince Johnson Erijo, Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr Kingsley Emu, along with all members of the State Exco, including Commissioners, Advisers and political appointees.
Equally historic was the defection of all National Assembly representatives, the Speaker and all members of the Delta State House of Assembly as well as all 25 council chairmen, their deputies and Councillors. Oborevwori ensured a clean sweep movement from the PDP to the APC.
However, the Governor faces an uphill task in fusing the warring factions in the old APC into one, indivisible and united party. Of great worry for him is how to get members of the college of leaders to work with Omo-Agege as advised by the Vice President. No credible leader in the old formation seems interested in working with the former DSP. Neither are the former PDP leaders now in the APC willing to submit to the same man.
No one could have known that a party desirous of winning the 2023 elections could have been this divided. No wonder Oborevwori trounced Omo-Agege at the polls, winning 21 out of 25 LGAs in the state. There was no way the old APC could have produced a winning streak.
Now that reality has set in, the Governor must take bold decisions to bring the party to winning ways. For a start, he must rein in the former DSP, who seems beleaguered on all fronts. How come no known leader in Delta Central wants to work with him? Omo-Agege must be made to realize and accept that there’s a new Sheriff in town. He either shapes in or be prepared to be brushed aside and into ignominy.
Similarly, the warring groups in Delta North must be whipped into line. The Governor must stick to a structure that works and can win elections. All combatants must swallow their pride and drop ego trips, which seems to be at the root of the problem.
Above all, Oborevwori must continue to run an inclusive government, without any hint that he is a proxy to any individual or group. He should realize that leadership has also conferred on him the position of a father with children who have different character traits.
Ultimately, the essence of moving to the APC is to win elections. President Tinubu expects that the Governor would ensure overwhelming victory for the party at all levels in 2027. Anything that deviates from that goal must be quickly jettisoned. Oborevwori cannot allow small gods and petty rivals whose cat fights remain an albatross to hold him down and prevent him from a rightful place in history.
Bekee, a political analyst, writes from Oko, Oshimili South LGA of Delta State.