Former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, has declared his support for Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi ahead of the 2027 general election, insisting that his loyalty now lies fully with the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the platform he recently joined after leaving the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Speaking during an interview with ARISE NEWS on Wednesday, Omo-Agege said he remained committed to the economic reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu, but argued that Obi would be better positioned to implement such policies in a way Nigerians would trust and embrace.

“Who is my presidential candidate in 2027? Of course it’s Peter Obi of the ADC,” he said.

“Have I endorsed Peter Obi for the presidency in 2027? Of course I’ve endorsed him for the presidency in 2027. I’m a member of the ADC now.

“You see, I’m a political animal. Very, very loyal political animal. Wherever I am, I show and display my loyalty. When I was in APC, I gave my all. I supported the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari because he was my party leader, and I gave my all. I supported him 100 per cent. The loyalty was not 99.9 per cent.

“When President Bola Tinubu came on board, we fought for him. We supported him 100 per cent. My loyalty was total. Likewise, now that I’ve moved to the ADC, you can take it to the bank that’s my loyalty to the party and to the presidential candidate.”

The former Delta State governorship candidate also defended his continued support for Tinubu’s economic reforms, particularly fuel subsidy removal and foreign exchange reforms, despite his defection from the APC.

“To begin with, I was a member of the APC. I never left the APC. The APC left me and left my over 240,000 supporters in Delta State,” he said.

“Now, when Mr President came up with some of these economic policies, most especially the policies dealing with the naira flotation and subsidy removal, these were policies I supported and policies I continue to support.

“But let me tell you this, even though these were policies that were espoused by Mr President, which policies I support, these same policies were also supported by Peter Obi. The question becomes, have I changed my opinion about this? No, I have not.

“I just believe that under the new platform that I’ve gone to, these policies will continue, and the people, the majority of Nigerians who have issues with those policies, will feel more confident because they are more comfortable and trust Peter Obi that he will be able to make these policies work even more than Mr President could have done.

“The policies are not bad policies. I supported them under President Bola Tinubu and I continue to support them, except this time my own party will be espousing the same economic policies.”

Omo-Agege also dismissed claims by Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori that he posed no political threat, citing his performance in the 2023 elections.

“Let me start by telling you, in the 2023 general elections, the APC that I led won two senate seats in Delta State out of the three,” he said.

“And of these two, Delta Central District, where the governor and I both come from, my party, led by me, won it in a head-to-head contest between the governor and I.

“I won a total of 115,245 votes, while the governor managed to pull in 100,089 votes, with a difference of 15,000 votes. This is the vote that separates the governor and myself.

“We are both Urhobo people. We are both from Delta Central District. The people who know Sheriff Oborevwori and myself best made a judgment, and over 15,000 of them gave me more votes than the governor.”

He further argued that the APC recorded significant electoral victories under his leadership in Delta Central.

“In the Senate contest, in the only senate seat in Delta Central that was in contest between the party led by Oborevwori and his boss, Okowa, the PDP at the time, I won it on behalf of my party,” he said.

“Now, in the three House of Representatives seats that are in Delta Central District, I won two. The governor won zero. The third one I didn’t win, which is the governor’s own federal constituency, he lost to the Labour Party.

“Of the nine State House of Assembly seats in Delta Central District, where he and I are from, I won five of those seats. He won only four.”

Omo-Agege claimed that after the 2023 elections, there was a wave of defections from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into the APC because many believed he was denied victory in the governorship election.

“In the course of my tour of the state, there was mass decampment of people from the PDP into the APC,” he said.

“These are people who had no confidence in this governor. People who believed that I was cheated in the governorship elections, that I actually won the governorship elections.

“The governor himself knows that I won the governorship elections in 2023. But of course, the Supreme Court gave the verdict, and as the final court in the land, I had no choice but to accept it.

“But mark this, there never was a time when I conceded the governorship election to Sheriff Oborevwori.”

He alleged that the governor defected into the APC out of fear of facing him politically in 2027.

“When Sheriff saw what was happening, he panicked, checked in and ran into the APC to join me,” Omo-Agege said.

“Now, if Sheriff believed that I was not a threat to him, why didn’t he stay back in PDP and take me on in 2027? I think the jury is out on that.”

The former Deputy Senate President also accused the Delta governor and his allies of sidelining long-standing APC members during the party congresses.

“There was a directive from Mr President, the leader of the APC, that there should be a 60-40 sharing arrangement between the old APC members and the new entrants,” he said.

“While that 60-40 arrangement was implemented across the board in almost every state, in Delta State, Sheriff Oborevwori and his crew decided they were not going to do that.

“So yes, they came in and basically wiped out everyone. These are people who fought to give the president the votes he had in Delta in 2023 despite the ferocious fight put forward by Sheriff Oborevwori against President Bola Tinubu.”

He insisted that despite losing control of the party structure, his grassroots support remained intact.

“The people remained with me. The people never left. That organic support remained,” he said.

“And of course, in the course of the primaries, I came home. I consulted widely with these people, with the leaders and these organic supporters of mine in the party. The decision was taken that I should go for the primaries.

“We went to the field and we won massively in every ward. The only ward we lost in that primary was the governor’s own ward. But out of the 85 wards, we won 84 wards.”

Omo-Agege further alleged that the APC governorship primary was manipulated against him.

“Unlike the general elections where you have the protections of INEC, in party primaries it is the panel set up by the party headquarters in Abuja that conducts the process,” he said.

“To the extent that we had a sitting governor who was given this panel, which panel he refused to make available to conduct free and fair primaries, my votes were not recorded. We actually won the primaries.”

On reports suggesting that his senatorial ticket in the ADC remained uncertain, Omo-Agege dismissed the claims and declared himself winner of the Delta Central primary.

“If you believe that I lost a primary in ADC, then I have a plot of land to sell to you in the middle of the Atlantic,” he said.

“We have done the primaries, and I won the primaries of the ADC in all eight local government areas. I don’t think there’s any dispute about that.

“You can take it to the bank that I have won that primary. I am the candidate, but I would rather wait for the party to formally make that announcement.”

He accused Governor Oborevwori’s supporters of spreading false information against him online.

“All those informations you referred to as the basis of your question are informations that have been peddled by Sheriff Oborevwori’s e-rats on social media, all to run me down,” he said.

“They are scared of me, and they have every reason to be scared because they know that going head-to-head with Sheriff, they know what I can do to him in the elections. I did it before, and I can do it again.”

Although he said he would not be contesting for governor in 2027, Omo-Agege disclosed that the ADC had settled on a governorship candidate for Delta State.

“We’re going to bring in somebody who is eloquent, articulate, and understands what it means to be governor of a state,” he said.

“Not one who just clamours for a title — ‘I am governor, I am governor’ — without knowing what to do with the office.

“The mere fact that you were declared governor by itself is not enough. You must show why you were elected. You must let us see what policies you have that will ameliorate the conditions of the people you were purportedly elected to lead.”

He criticised the Oborevwori administration over what he described as poor governance despite huge revenues accruing to the state.

“Despite the receipt of over N3.15 trillion in three years, there’s nothing on ground in Delta State other than three or four flyovers, as if flyovers are what governance is all about,” he said.

“As I speak to you right now, despite the receipt of this N3.15 trillion in three years, we have about N750 billion of state funds sitting idle in the CBN because this government is clueless. It doesn’t even know what to do with the money.”

According to him, the ADC’s governorship candidate would address insecurity, poor healthcare, decaying schools, housing shortages and hunger in the state.

“We have somebody who has created wealth, managed people and resources, who will put this money to use in such a way that the issue of hunger in the land will be addressed,” he said.

“The issue of accommodation for our people will be addressed. The issue of insecurity will be addressed. The issue of dilapidation in our schools, primary and secondary, will be addressed. The issue of unavailability of healthcare will be addressed.”

On the ongoing legal disputes surrounding political party membership registers and election timetables, Omo-Agege suggested that his eligibility to contest was not under threat.

“What makes you think that my candidacy is predicated on the outcome of the courts determining whether or not registration in a political party complies with Section 77 of the Electoral Act?” he asked.

“As a member of the ADC, all that Section 77 of the Electoral Act talks about is that your name should be on the register of members submitted to INEC before May 10.

“What makes you think that my name was not on the register of ADC before May 10? Ponder about that and we’ll discuss it further down the road.” (Arise News)

Update news