Oborevwori: New Battlelines for Delta’s Political Gladiators

 The earth-shaking mass defection by leaders and stakeholders of the Delta State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party on Wednesday, contrary to expectations in certain quarters, might not signal an end to the tension-soaked struggle among the different leaders, their close associates and others jostling for political relevance in the state, writes Omon-Julius Onabu

Wednesday, April 23, 2025 witnessed the defection of the entire leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State to the, hitherto, rival All Progressives Congress (APC) in a major and comprehensive realignment of political forces and interests across the state’s political landscape. 

At the head of the long queue of the high and mighty in the party, was Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, the current indisputable leader of the PDP in the state and his deputy, Sir Monday Onyeme. 

The lengthy line also included Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, who is Oborevwori’s immediate predecessor and the PDP vice-presidential candidate in the 2023 general election; the Speaker of the Delta State House of Assembly, Hon Emotimi Guwor with his team of legislators, and the members of the State Executive Council (EXCO).

 It also had the State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Solomon Arenyeka; the local government chairmen and political appointees, as well as the various leaders of the party, who had held sway in the state in nearly 26 years since the restoration of democracy in Nigeria. 

Some present and past PDP members of the National Assembly also attended the high-profile stakeholders’ meeting held at the Government House, Asaba, according to the pioneer state chairman of the PDP, Senator James Manager.

Manager broke the news of the large-scale defection to journalists who were at the Government House, venue of the meeting. 

He stressed that the decision to abandon the Delta PDP ship was rooted in the seeming or obviously intractable disagreement within the party’s leadership at the national level, adding that it was neither spontaneous nor based on the spur of the moment. 

He said the decision was midwifed through a meticulous and extensive process of negotiation with stakeholders from the top to bottom rungs of the ladder.

The sixth-time senator from the Delta South senatorial district did not mince words about the fact that Governor Oborevwori and his state party co-travellers took the decision as a last resort because they had arrived at the painful conclusion that the festering series of leadership crisis in the PDP at the centre had become fatally cancerous. 

Manager said: “Some consultations have been going on and the climax of these consultations is what you are seeing today. We have discussed and have disagreed to agree and it is a unanimous agreement. 

“I am the pioneer state chairman of the PDP; you cannot be in a boat that is 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 about it. It is a collective decision for so many reasons.

“The PDP is truly in trouble. If you look well, the current PDP state chairman was in the meeting, the governor was there, the deputy governor, the immediate past governor, the speaker. All of these persons were in the meeting. National Assembly members and even the House of Assembly members. The who- is- who in Delta State was in the meeting to make this decision.” 

To buttress Manager’s explanation, the State Commissioner for Works (Rural Roads) and Public Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, said: “For some time now the media, particularly the social media have been awash as to what political decisions that we are going to be taken in Delta. While that was on, the governor and the leaders of the party have been very busy carrying out some necessary consultations; and, it is also part of that consultation that has resulted in this meeting today for the leaders of the PDP to be able to advise as to what necessary steps that needed to be taken. It is said that when the taste of the palm wine changes, the drinking pattern also changes; and, the leaders of the party were unanimous in their view that the political temperature has changed. 

“And, there was a need for change that will help cement the development in our state: To build the bond of love that has existed in our state and to further advance the security and welfare of our people. We believe that what is happening in the PDP at the national can be likened to that palm wine whose taste has changed and that is why this decision has been taken.”

This latest development has brought many Captains in the Delta APC boat.

The APC in Delta State is set to become a truly full house of who-is-who in politics in Delta State. The Vice-President, Senator Kashim Shettima is billed to formally welcome the defectors to the ruling APC, on behalf of President Bola Tinubu, at a grand ceremony in Asaba. And, irrespective of whether or not the litany of reasons adduced for the defection of Oborevwori and company to the APC is sufficiently persuasive or acceptable to millions of registered voters in Delta State, the APC would soon become the new battleground for both the “old” APC leaders and the new, including Governor Oborevwori and ex-governor Okowa.

In recent years, the APC in Delta State has been a volatile zone where several contending groups have engaged in an unrelenting supremacy war over the party’s structure. 

At a time the influence of former Governor James Ibori was looming large in the party in the state, former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, returned home in 2023, claiming the position of Delta APC Leader. The supporters of the Minister of Aviation, Hon Festus Keyamo also regarded him as the APC leader in the state, based on his position as a high-ranking member of the Federal Executive Council (FEC).

With the man considered as a “gentleman in politics”, Ororogun O’tega Emerhor; former governorship hopeful, David Edevbie; the current Chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Hon. Chiedu Ebie; and several other former PDP members becoming strong leaders in the APC, the question of control of the soul of the party remains very engaging.

Before the senator representing Delta North, Senator Ned Nwoko, left PDP to join the APC in late  2024, his counterparts for Delta Central and Delta South, Senator Ede Dafinone and Senator Joel Onowakpo-Thomas, respectively, were also APC members who had earlier left the PDP. Senator Peter Nwaoboshi from Delta North had earlier quit the PDP for the APC. 

Nonetheless, now that Governor Oborevwori is set to become the “natural” leader of the APC in Delta, a position made incontestable because of his position as the Chief Executive Officer of the state, some self-acclaimed leaders of the party will have to swallow their pride and accept the reality of the unfolding new dispensation in the APC.

For instance in Delta North, Senator Nwoko and Senator Nwaoboshi, as a matter of courtesy and mark of respect, may have to defer to former Governor Okowa; the current deputy governor, Sir Onyeme as well as former deputy governor, Chief Benjamin Elue.

However, these senators are higher than the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Dr Kingsley Emu and a handful of political appointees under Oborevwori who are from the zone in the party hierarchy.

The story will likely be the same for Delta Central and Delta South, where political heavy weights like Ibori and former Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, hail from, respectively.

Public reactions to the mass defection by the Delta State PDP to the APC, have shown that a lot of explanation will have to be made in the days and months leading to the much-talked-about 2027 election. 

The mass defection will most likely enhance the second term ambition of Governor Oborevwori, all things being equal. But the voters must be truly persuaded and carried along. 

One way of doing that is not to allow a new wave of divisive friction in the new APC in Delta State that is about to be bloated by many “captains” in one ship. The existing internal rift within the party is not about to vanish because there is no longer a strong opposition party in the state with the PDP as good as dead.