Omo-Agege: Oborevwori Flouted Tinubu’s Directive to Share 60-40 Party Structure

• Vows to campaign for Obi, win 2027 poll in Delta 

•Says governor threatened by his political clout

Ex-Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, yesterday responded to Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, insisting that the governor disregarded a directive by President Bola Tinubu to integrate old and new members of All Progressives Congress (APC) through a 60-40 sharing arrangement following the governor’s defection to APC.

Omo-Agege, who recently dumped APC for Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), made the assertion during an interview on Arise Television, where he also declared his full support for the presidential ambition of Peter Obi ahead of the 2027 elections.

The former APC governorship candidate in Delta State maintained that his departure from the ruling party was not voluntary, arguing that the APC leadership in the state under Oborevwori systematically side-lined long-standing party members who had worked for Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential election.

Omo-Agege said although a 60-40 formula was adopted in several states to accommodate both old APC members and new entrants, the arrangement was ignored in Delta by the governor.

Omo-Agege was replying to an interview by the governor a day earlier where he described the former deputy senate president as untrustworthy and politically weightless.

Omo-Agege stated, “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 and the new intakes.

“While that arrangement was implemented in almost every state, in Delta State Sheriff Oborevwori and his crew decided they were not going to do that.”

He alleged that the governor’s camp took complete control of the party structure upon joining APC and displaced members who had worked for the party before the governor’s defection.

Omo-Agege added, “They came in and basically wiped out everyone. These are people who fought to give the president the votes he got in Delta in 2023, despite the opposition mounted by Sheriff Oborevwori and others.

“They took the administrative structure of the party, but the people remained with me.”

Omo-Agege insisted that despite losing control of the party machinery, he retained the loyalty of a substantial grassroots base across the state.

The former deputy senate president stated that his political relevance remained a source of concern to Oborevwori, stating that the governor’s decision to leave Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for APC was partly motivated by fears of facing him in another governorship contest.

“If Sheriff believed I was not a threat, why didn’t he remain in the PDP and face me in 2027? The fact that he moved tells its own story,” he said.

The Delta politician alleged that he won the APC governorship primary but was denied victory through manipulation of the process by forces loyal to the governor.

According to him, his supporters secured victory in 84 of the state’s 85 wards during the exercise and amassed over 109,000 votes.

Omo-Agege stated, “We won massively in every ward except the governor’s ward. We had about 109,000 votes.

“But unlike a general election where INEC provides safeguards, party primaries are conducted by panels appointed by the party. The panel was not allowed to conduct a free and fair process, and our votes were not properly recorded.”

Having now joined NDC, Omo-Agege pledged total loyalty to the opposition party and formally endorsed Peter Obi’s presidential bid.

“Of course, Peter Obi is my presidential candidate in 2027. I am now a member of the NDC and wherever I belong, my loyalty is total. When I was in the APC, I supported President Muhammadu Buhari and later President Bola Tinubu 100 per cent. Now that I am in the NDC, my loyalty is to the party and to Peter Obi.”

He dismissed suggestions that his switch of allegiance undermined his previous support for Tinubu’s economic reforms, stating that many of the policies he had backed, including fuel subsidy removal and exchange-rate reforms, were also supported by Obi.

He said, “The policies are not bad policies. I supported them under President Tinubu and I still support them. Peter Obi also supported many of those reforms.

“I simply believe that under a different platform, they can be implemented in a way that inspires greater confidence among Nigerians.”

Omo-Agege also expressed confidence in his political future within NDC, saying he has already emerged victorious in the party’s senatorial primary for Delta Central Senatorial District.

“We have done the primaries and I won. There is absolutely no contention as to who won the Delta Central senatorial primary. I have been advised to allow the party to formally announce the result,” he said.

The former deputy senate president accused Oborevwori’s supporters of spreading misinformation on social media to undermine his political standing, characterising them as e-rats.

Turning his attention to governance in Delta State, Omo-Agege launched a blistering attack on the Oborevwori administration, accusing it of failing to translate increased revenues into meaningful development.

He stated that despite receiving trillions of naira in federal allocations and internally generated revenues over the past three years, the state had little to show in terms of transformative projects and social infrastructure.

According to him, substantial funds belonging to the state remained idle while residents grappled with poverty, inadequate healthcare, poor educational facilities and insecurity.

He said the opposition had settled on a governorship candidate capable of providing effective leadership and managing the state’s resources more efficiently.