The oil-rich Delta State has been pulsating since Wednesday, and reverberations have spread nationwide.

The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has dominated the state for almost 26 years since 1999, when the current political dispensation commenced, and superficially, there seemed to be no immediate threat to its dominance.

However, the governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori and his predecessor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, sank the state’s PDP ship approximately 72 hours ago. They swam into a rival All Progressives Congress (APC) ferry that was waiting.

In addition to Oborevwori and Okowa, the party’s vice presidential candidate in the 2023 presidential election, defecting to the APC, the PDP’s entire state structure, from the ward to the local government and state levels, was specifically instructed to disintegrate into the APC.

The governor and other participants in the meeting declared their resignations from the PDP.

Shortly after concluding the decision with Okowa and other leaders, Oborevwori walked out of Government House in Asaba with a satisfied swagger, promising anxious reporters waiting to find out what transpired that they would hear from him on Monday.

He revealed that the chairmen of the local government areas and other party members informed him that they would follow him wherever he went.

The vice president, Kashim Shettima, will be present to receive the governor, Okowa, and other officials as they formally declare their support for the APC at the Cenotaph in Asaba on Monday, April 28.

Explaining the overall realignment that shook the nation, Senator James Manager, the PDP’s first state chairman, revealed that Governor Oborevwori and other members had defected to the APC, claiming the decision was made following thorough discussions with other relevant parties.

He said, ”You have just been told about the things happening in the PDP, Delta State. Some consultations have been going on, and the climax is what you see today.”

“We have discussed and have agreed, and it is a unanimous agreement. I am the pioneer state chairman of the PDP. But you cannot be in a boat already capsizing because I am a riverine man.”

“Looking at issues the way they are, we have come to the inevitable conclusion to do something else. It is a collective decision for so many reasons.

A few days ago, the PDP Governors’ Forum took a resolution at Ibadan. Almost all the governors resolved they would not go into coalition with any other party.

“But as disadvantaged as the PDP is now with about 11 governors, how do you go into a contest with an incumbent president? You think you can win? That particular resolution killed the spirit of so many PDP members.

“We lost the election in 2015 because of a merger that even included splinter groups from the PDP. There are also other reasons.

“Today, Senator Anyanwu is the national secretary; tomorrow, it is another person. The party must be positioned to go into an election to win. So, you see that it is becoming funny. The PDP is truly in trouble.

“The ‘who is who’ in Delta State were in the meeting to make this decision; if you look well, the current PDP state chairman was in the meeting, and the governor was there. The deputy governor, the immediate past governor, and the speaker, National Assembly members and House of Assembly members attended the strategic event.

It is all about 2027

From the details, it is clear that the congregation is about 2027. It is not that the PDP lost steam in the state but that it has been torn apart at the national level and so is not potent enough, in the opinion of some members, to wrest power from the current president, President Bola Tinubu of the APC, in 2027.

Oborevwori, Okowa, and other leaders reasoned that their political future is better off in the APC from 2027 than in the PDP, which might crumble because of the stranglehold of its 2023 presidential candidate and former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on the party.

Alhaji Abubakar doesn’t want to drop his presidential ambition and is already gearing up for 2027 even when the party is divided and unable to put its acts together, which some attributed to his ambition and political style.

Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nyesom Wike, who remains in PDP to date, despite working against the party and delivering Rivers State to Tinubu in the 2023 presidential polls, was the first prominent PDP politician to kick against Atiku Abubakar and his style of politics.

Oborevwori and Okowa’s defection is an ingenious game of political survival. The anti-graft agency has not left Okowa alone since he left office in 2023.

The reality is that President Tinubu and his ruling APC are bent on seizing Delta State and other South-South states from the PDP in 2027, and the indications are discernible to shrewd political tacticians.

An APC leader in Delta State confirmed to Saturday Vanguard, “We have concluded that we will take over the state in 2027, no matter how. We did it in Edo State last year, 2024, against the incumbent PDP governor, Godwin Obaseki, and the heavens did not fall.”

Intrigues in the new party

Back to what should be the core matter in the Delta APC, with Governor Oborevwori, ex-governor Okowa, and other leaders of the PDP breaking up their party structure and directing their followers to return to their wards and register with the APC?

The first concern is who leads or controls the APC in Delta State. Because he is the sitting governor and now a member of the APC, Oborevwori, by procedures and privileges, takes over as the leader of the APC in the state.

This is the recognized standard in the political parties in the country, including the APC and PDP.

At present, the former Deputy Senate President (DSP) in the 9th National Assembly, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, is the leader of the APC in Delta State. He was Oborevwori’s major challenger in the 2023 governorship election.

Will Senator Omo-Agege surrender the leadership of the APC in Delta State to Oborevwori? Many would want to watch how things will play out between the two leaders in the coming months.

However, Oborevwori did not just move the gigantic structure of the Delta PDP into the APC without speaking with President Tinubu and other APC leaders at the national level regarding his authority and influence afterward.

As a politician, Senator Omo-Agege knew when Oborevwori’s advances to join the APC started, and he vehemently objected.

Barely two months ago, in February, at an APC leaders, elders, and stakeholders’ meeting in Ika South and Ika North East local government areas, Okowa’s home base in the state, Omo-Agege urged Governor Oborevwori and Okowa to remain in the PDP, saying they were not welcomed in the APC.

His words: “After the 2023 elections, the PDP spread false propaganda, claiming that the APC no longer existed in Delta.”

“Yet, this is a state where the APC won two senatorial and two House of Representatives seats.

“Today, the only PDP senator is set to join APC, and you still say we are not on the ground? Are we not the majority party?

“In Delta Central Senatorial District, where Governor Oborevwori and I come from, APC won the senatorial seat and two of the three House of Representatives seats, while the Labour Party won the remaining one, and PDP won none.

“Also, out of nine House of Assembly seats in Delta Central, APC secured five, while PDP got four. So, which party is truly more popular?”

He also highlighted that despite the presence of a sitting PDP governor and a former vice-presidential candidate in Ika South and Ika North East, the APC still secured the required 25% of votes in the last election.

He reassured party members that any internal issues within Delta APC would be resolved ahead of 2027, emphasizing that PDP’s national crisis could render it irrelevant by the next election cycle.

“We should stop focusing on our internal issues and instead take advantage of the PDP’s bigger problems.

“Are we even sure PDP will still exist in 2027? Their crisis at the national level is worsening. Our focus should be on winning the next elections and re-electing President Bola Tinubu.”

Omo-Agege further stated that the successes of Tinubu’s policies have made APC the most attractive party in Delta State, drawing interest from several political figures.

However, he firmly rejected any potential defection by Okowa and Oborevwori, saying, “We have built this party from scratch, and we will not allow people with questionable records to destroy what we have worked hard for.

“Soon, we will have three senators, and I am aware that the three PDP House of Reps members are joining the APC.

“The only two people who are not welcome are Governor Sheriff and Okowa. They should remain in PDP and build their party.”

Also in Agbor, following the official defection of members of the Delta Unity Group (DUG), a group loyal to another former governor of the state, Chief James Ibori, in the Ika Federal Constituency from the PDP to the APC, this month, Senator Ned Nwoko, who recently decamped from the PDP to the APC, slammed Oborevwori and Okowa.

The Agbor gathering attracted APC bigwigs, including the National Chairman, Alhaji Umar Ganduje; Edo State Governor, Monday Okpebholo; and Senator Omo-Agege.

Senator Nwoko bluntly said at the gathering, “Oborevwori wants to come to APC, but tell him to stay where he is. He will be defeated. We don’t want him in the APC.”

“Delta will surely become an APC state come 2027. Twenty-five years of corrupt governance by the PDP in the state is enough. We must take over. The time has come for that to happen.”

“Don’t let anyone doubt who you are. The next governor will be formed by you. As you go home, tell them that the next governor of Delta State will be formed by the APC. Today, we are emboldened and happy that a large political group like the DUG is following in my footsteps in joining the APC.”

On the contrary, Senator Okowa’s position as governor at the time helped Nwoko emerge as the senator representing the Delta North senatorial district in the 2023 National Assembly elections.

Nwoko would not have smelled the seat if Okowa had refused, but between 2024 and the beginning of 2025, they fell out irretrievably, which forced Nwoko to leave the PDP this year.

During the meeting, Senator Omo-Agege stood by Senator Nwoko and vowed that Oborevwori and his predecessor, Ifeanyi Okowa, would never be allowed to join the APC.

One APC leader who would surely be unhappy about Okowa joining the party is Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, who defected from the PDP to the APC in 2021 over disagreements with Okowa.

Even though Nwaoboshi may still harbor resentment toward Senator Nwoko, who succeeded him as the senator representing the Delta North senatorial district, it is unclear how well they get along now. Nwaoboshi is Omo-Agege’s strongest political ally in the Delta North.

The problem in Delta State today, however, is not Oborevwori and Okowa joining the APC because they have defected. As required by political party tradition, Oborevwori’s assumption of the APC’s leadership in the state should be sacrosanct.

Hours after the state’s political turmoil, Oborevwoi, Okowa, and others were welcomed into the APC by the national and state leaderships, pending formal declaration.

The ruling APC, in a statement by the national spokesperson, Felix Morka, said, “The National Working Committee of All Progressives Congress APC under the leadership of Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje is highly elated by the decision of the Governor of Delta State, His Excellency Sheriff Oborevwori, to join our great party, along with eminent leaders of the People’s Democratic Party PDP, including former Governor of Delta State and vice presidential candidate of the PDP in the 2023 presidential election, His Excellency Senator Ifeanyi Okowa….”

“Our great party welcomes this important development and assures the governor and incoming leaders, and members of Delta PDP, of our fullest cooperation and accommodation in the APC family.

“With this move, coming on the heels of the steady decamping of PDP leaders and members across the state to APC, including members of the Delta Unity Group in the Ika Federal Constituency, we are delighted that Delta State, now an APC state, stands poised to contribute maximally to the success and realization of the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the enduring good and prosperity of Deltans and all Nigerians.”

The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo (SAN), whom some APC members flaunted as a co-leader of the party in the state with Omo-Agege until the national chairman, Ganduje, dismissed the notion of collegiate leadership, was among the first to laud Oborewori and Okowa for their decision to move the PDP into the APC in the state.

Reacting via his X handle on Wednesday, Keyamo said, “Today is the day the Lord has made in Delta State. Finally, Delta is APC!”

Keyamo, who attributed the shift to the leadership style of President Bola Tinubu, said, “Thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership that has attracted the best to our party.”

In a demonstration of support, Keyamo, as if stating his stand on the leadership question in the state, referred to Oborevwori as his “leader and governor,” commending him for what he called a bold and visionary decision.

His words: “Thank you, my leader & Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, for your foresight and courage in taking this bold decision.”

As of the time of this report, neither Senator Omo-Agege nor Senator Nwoko has acknowledged the deafening entrance of Oborevwori, Okowa, and the structure of the PDP in the state, which they were part of before now, into the APC.

Governor Oborevwori jetted to Abuja on Wednesday night after the Asaba meeting to handle other matters concerning his entrance to the APC and attend the National Executive Council meeting.

The Ibori phenomenon

Governor Oborevwori and Okowa do not only have Senators Omo-Agege, Nwoko, and Nwaoboshi to contend with in the APC; they also have a formidable power in the person of their erstwhile leader, Ibori, to deal with.

Until 2022/2023, when Ibori, who ruled the state from 1999 to 2007, fell out with Okowa (governor from 2015 to 2023) over the issue of his (Okowa’s) successor before the PDP governorship primaries won by Oborevwori on Okowa’s orders, the Oghara-born politician was the incontestable political godfather of the PDP in the state.

There is no contemporary political front-runner in the state today who has not passed under the political tutelage of Ibori since he took charge in 1999. From the former governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan, who succeeded him in 2007, to Okowa, who succeeded Uduaghan, and Senator Omo-Agege, including Nwaoboshi, Ibori is their de facto political leader.

Ibori has not officially declared for the APC in the state, but it is obvious that his sympathy lies with the APC.

The Delta Unity Group (DUG), which ceremoniously coalesced into the APC earlier this month at Agbor, was the splinter group from the PDP opposed to Okowa’s installation of Oborevwori as the governorship candidate and eventually governor of the state.

Ibori’s choice was David Edevbie, whom Okowa rejected, and stood solidly with Oborevwori until they emerged victorious.

But, in the APC, Ibori, as a contemporary of President Tinubu in their days as governors, has the ear of the president, who is his bosom friend.

Senators Omo-Agege, Nwaoboshi, and Nwoko, and every other notable leader of the APC in the state, submit to Ibori’s authority to date.

Some of Ibori’s followers would want him to take a pound of flesh against Okowa with his latest move into the APC.

But any settling of scores against Okowa, who is not currently the governor as he has served his eight-year tenure, will be an arrow directed at Oborevwori, who has no personal scruples with Ibori. Oborevwori has given Ibori his due respect since he assumed office in 2023 and has never publicly done anything to spite him. It is not known if he consulted him before his latest move to the APC, but all the gladiators were members of the PDP in the state before they joined the APC.

Be it Senators Omo-Agege, Nwaoboshi, and Nwoko; the state chairman of the APC, Elder Omeni Sobotie; and the deputy chairman of the party in the Delta Central senatorial district, who is an old political warhorse, Chief Paulinus Akpeki, all were members of the PDP before the APC.

It was one disagreement or the other at different times that made them exit the PDP for the APC. In Delta State, the APC was once a continuation of the PDP, even though the PDP joined the APC instead of the other way around.

The ways of politicians are different

For those drilled in the dynamics of politics, what the ordinary man thinks is a problem is not a challenge to their leaders. While the followers could be busy drawing lines, the leaders, whose major interests are their survival, would meet in secret and share power, and the matter is over.

Also, very crucial is how former members of the PDP who defected to the APC long ago, either because of Okowa or the emergence of Oborevwori as a governor, would take their entry into the APC.

Some APC members have already drawn the battle line against the new APC members from the PDP, saying the actual battle against them will start after the governorship primaries.

Taking as guaranteed that Oborevwori will not lose his position as leader of the APC in the state after his formal declaration on Monday, he will superintend over the power-sharing meetings with Ibori, Okowa, Omo-Agege, Uduaghan, and others.

Oborevwori, who once served as a special assistant to Ibori, has no gripes with him (Ibori), Omo-Agege, Nwaoboshi, and Nwoko. But it is also predictable that he would not want anybody to victimize Okowa because he supported his political ascendancy.

The governor would also not want to concede the governorship ticket in 2027 to Omo-Agege, who, with Ibori, owns the APC structure from the ward to state levels in Delta State.

Oborevwori’s entrance into the APC has largely affected the chances of Omo-Agege, whose plan was to run for governorship again in 2027.

He is not happy with the development, and party leaders were telling him to calm down, as it is to his credit that a sitting governor, a former governor, and the entire PDP structure in the state emptied into the APC.

President Tinubu may, in the long run, work out an alternative federal appointment to pacify him, but in the meantime, DSP is fuming. But there were whispers that he might leave the APC abruptly.

On Thursday, Senator Nwoko changed his mind about Oborevwori, but he has said nothing about Senator Okowa.

Earlier in February, Nwoko had slammed the governor: “Sheriff Oborevwori doesn’t have the capacity to (sic) be a governor where we are. He has not delivered to my expectations. Sheriff is not a match for me anywhere. And so he became a governor by default (because of Ifeanyi Okowa). And suddenly, he doesn’t respect me anymore. He doesn’t think that we can agree on what to do for the people.”

“That is not what I’m begging for. I know Sheriff; he knows me. Beyond being a governor, beyond being a senator, you know Ned Nwoko. Or don’t you? If Sheriff hadn’t become a governor, would you have known him? No! Even as a governor, just tell me how many people identify him in the streets of Abuja,” he said.

Two days ago, Nwoko referred to Oborevwori’s joining the APC as a “new dawn” and urged the governor to welcome this change with “courage and conviction,” rather than hesitancy.

In an Abuja-issued statement titled “A New Dawn for New Delta and Anioma Statehood!” Nwoko called the move a “significant chapter” in the country’s changing political history. “This is about the daring possibilities that are now possible, not just about changing allegiances,” he said.

Nwoko urged the governor to abandon “old politics and old habits,” which he claims were a factor in the PDP’s downfall in Delta. He cited the Bible when he said, “No one pours new wine into old wineskins,” suggesting that new methods and a renewed commitment to progressive governance are necessary for the future.

Nwoko called this the “golden hour for the South, and especially for Delta,” and he urged Oborevwori and other defectors to support the APC’s progressive policies and spearhead significant constitutional reform.

Oddly, Okowa, his kinsman from Owa-Alero in the Ika North East local government area, was not mentioned by the politician and international lawyer from the Anoicha North local government area who was born in Idumuje-Ugboko.

Only a counterorder from Tinubu will force them to back down, an APC leader told Saturday Vanguard. I think Tinubu will eventually take up the issue, but you cannot prevent a sitting governor from becoming or becoming the party’s leader.”

However, power sharing, which is the primary aim of politicians, is already on. The first on the table is members of the State Executive Council, as the governor is expected to dissolve the present cabinet shortly after his formal declaration on Monday to accommodate the candidates of the leaders in the new party.

The discussions are already ongoing. (Saturday Vanguard)