…As ex-Deputy Senate President claims Oborevwori fled PDP to avoid 2027 showdown
By Chike Ofili
Former Deputy Senate President, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege’s claim that he built the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State from the ground up has drawn a blistering response from the party’s acknowledged founding leader in the state, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor.
Speaking exclusively to KTH Daily in reaction to Omo-Agege’s interview on Arise Television, Emerhor challenged the former governorship candidate to stop what he described as “preposterous” attempts to rewrite the history of the party.
Emerhor maintained that he founded and nurtured the APC structure in Delta State long before Omo-Agege joined its ranks, insisting that the former Deputy Senate President was among those he personally brought into the party.
“I am the founding leader of Delta APC and nobody has ever disputed that fact,” Emerhor said. “Omo-Agege joined the party the same day as Chief Great Ogboru. I received both of them and personally took them to the then National Chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, where they formally registered as members. If there was no party structure, what exactly did he join?”
The veteran politician said Omo-Agege’s repeated claims of single-handedly building the party were not only inaccurate but insulting to the many leaders and members who invested years in growing the APC in Delta.
According to Emerhor, the same tendency to personalise collective achievements ultimately fractured the party and contributed to Omo-Agege’s defeat in the 2023 governorship election.
He faulted the former Deputy Senate President for taking sole credit for the election victories of Senators Ede Dafinone and Joel-Onowakpo Thomas, arguing that the successes were products of a broad-based party effort rather than the accomplishment of one individual.
Emerhor further alleged that while serving as Deputy Senate President, Omo-Agege deployed federal influence to sideline and displace many of the APC’s original leaders in Delta State, creating deep resentment within the party.
He argued that this internal disaffection explained why APC supporters voted massively for the party’s senatorial, House of Representatives, and House of Assembly candidates in 2023 but withheld support from Omo-Agege’s governorship bid.
“A party that comfortably won two Senate seats and was in a strong position to win a third could not logically lose the governorship election by such a wide margin unless there were internal issues,” he said, referring to APC’s defeat across 21 of Delta’s 25 local government areas.
Emerhor also challenged Omo-Agege to identify any major political figures who followed him into the National Democratic Congress (NDC), arguing former Delta Speaker, Victor Ochei, defected in his personal capacity, and was definitely not part of Omo-Agege’s movement.
He noted that the lack of significant defections has effectively exposed “who was the real problem within the Delta APC.”
The remarks came as Omo-Agege, in a live interview on Arise Television, insisted that he remained the dominant opposition figure in Delta politics and claimed Governor Sheriff Oborevwori defected from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC out of fear of facing him in the 2027 governorship election.
The former Deputy Senate President argued that the APC under his leadership emerged as a formidable force in the state, winning two of Delta’s three Senate seats in 2023 and outperforming the PDP in several contests across Delta Central Senatorial District.
He maintained that he never conceded defeat in the 2023 governorship election, claiming he was convinced he won the contest before the courts upheld Oborevwori’s victory.
“If Sheriff Oborevwori believed I was no threat, he would have remained in the PDP and faced me in 2027,” Omo-Agege said, alleging that the governor abandoned the PDP after witnessing growing defections into the APC ahead of the next electoral cycle.