Delta State: Omo-Agege Will Win Under A Different Party - Sam Amadi

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:05]Fresh political realignments may be unfolding in Delta State following the resignation of former Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege from the All Progressives Congress. Omo-Agege states that his decision was informed by political developments within the APC in Delta State and consultations with his supporters. The former senator says he can no longer advance the interest of Delta Central and his political aspirations within the party. His resignation is already fueling speculation over possible new alliances, shifts in political influence, and what it could mean for the balance of power in Delta politics ahead of future elections.

[00:00:47]Well, for more on the implications of Omo-Agege's exit from the APC and how it could reshape the political landscape in Delta State, director of Abuja School of Social and Political Thoughts, Sam Amadi, joins us now. Good afternoon.

[00:01:03]Many thanks for being here.

[00:01:07]>> Good afternoon. Thanks for having me.

[00:01:09]>> Of course. Now, of course, we know that Omo-Agege was one of APC's most visible faces in the Niger Delta region. What What does his resignation signal? Is this a Is this a Is this going Is this going to have a huge impact on the party's grip in Delta State, especially since we're so close to elections?

[00:01:33]>> Well, I think it's not totally unexpected since uh the former governor and presidential candidate of vice presidential candidate of PDP in the last election the count together with the current governor to APC uh pundits would argue that the space seem to be shrinking for leadership for Omo-Agege in that party. And so, uh there are also stories or rumors, reports uh uh unofficial that he probably was hobnobbing with the opposition uh leading to uh the primaries. And again, because of the nature of the electoral landscape and the electoral regime was very tight, maybe um there was no time for, you know, defections and all that. And so, when he lost the primary, uh it made sense maybe for him to resign from the party because really he's going to play even less than secondary role. Um the feud between him and uh the former governor and the current governor of the camp is a strong one. And um um it's one of those things we should expect across the country that uh we uh those choices have to be made and incumbents and other forces win, the other force might seek refuge elsewhere.

[00:02:52]Again, the options are are limited because uh the primaries are all coming at the same time. And so, it's not likely that probably he would had resigned as a member of another party, I could run election uh for Senate in any of those new parties. But, what's is is clear that having resigned, he's not going to work for APC in in the 2017 election. I may find himself fully working for or even standing election.

[00:03:19]We don't know whether he's going to be a candidate or whether he has resigned before now. And maybe he's going to be on a lot. We don't know. But, for sure, he would be working against the APC in Delta State. Uh he's a significant force. Uh he has run for the governor.

[00:03:34]He has his own group in APC. Uh and so, uh what's not clear is whether there's enough force to totally upstage the governor. Uh but, we know that in the last election uh uh the the governor the former governor's party lost the presidential election to PDP. And if uh he signs up to be with Peter Obi's party, the NDC, it means that he will further bolster that party and that could mean that that they could defeat the APC in that state at least in the presidential election.

[00:04:07]For the governorship election, different dynamics come to play, but it's a big loss to the party and a boost to whichever opposition party he finally, you know, uh supports or joins.

[00:04:22]>> Mhm. [snorts] Uh Dr. Amadi, um if Senator Omo-Agege couldn't make headway uh at the recent primaries, how significant is that? And going from that scenario to other parties, although he hasn't announced where he's going, um how would he fare, you think?

[00:04:45]>> I think, look, if he goes to the you know, the parties, he would definitely win the nomination uh if that's possible because um he's very strong. He faced a very stiff opposition in the former governor and clearly with the party structure where the governors control, the political party controlled the primaries, as it were, he he he would be difficult for him to win. Again, these primaries are never are not free and fair. Their structures and procedures are not clear. And so, losing in the primary against a governor's candidate would not mean you are not powerful or you are not you are not strong. It's basically what it is. The governors are in charge. It's very in APC where the president gave them kind of open check to run primaries and they got whatever they wanted. And so, he is a strong candidate. So, if he tries to run under another party, he would win the nomination. I mean, I'm assuming the legalities are okay for him to run. So, if he does, he'll win. And if he wins, he will be a very strong opposition to um the real APC in that state, he will surely be because before 2023 had built strong political network as deputy senator uh Senate President. He had strong uh structure and was actually a strong contender for the governorship election.

[00:06:01]I I did fairly well even though he didn't win. So, he all that together means that even though he might not necessarily use that force to upset the governor for a second term, but he would tilt the balance in election that's going to likely be very close. And he will steer opposition whether it's ADC or NDC, more likely NDC because PDP won that state handily. Uh you know, he would if he joins ADC, he would definitely tilt the scale far more than towards ADC than APC. So, it's a big loss for APC, but in all these things, unavoidable. I mean, something has to give whether it's the governor's faction the uh former governor's faction, but this faction. And in politics, one sees about transaction. You you lose or you win.

[00:06:51]And Delta state, the ruling party has lost because there's no way they could converge those uh adverse interests.

[00:06:58]>> Now, when you consider the hat that uh Omo-Agege wore being serving as the deputy Senate President under APC and this defection, do you think it's the first of many based on the influence that he had in the APC? And at the same time, can you also address how this might be an indicator of poor internal internal party dispute measures that might lead to situations like this?

[00:07:25]>> Well, I I think the key thing to bear in mind is look, once the political party begins to acquire people who like, you know, they just mobilize everybody to their platform, uh it's a matter of time when you just basically have to you You find a way to solve you know, to converge everybody. And it's not a principled politics, in which case people are joining, identify with an ideology and the value system and use that as orientation. So, what this means therefore is when you bring these guys who have diverse who want to be governor, they want to be senator, you just then have to have a capacity to do trade-off. Either you expand the pie and everybody gets what they want from the large pie. Or you knock some people down and knock some people up. So, it was bound to happen. And so, it's it's it's it's it's a statement about the difficulty of the game. It's difficult to to reconcile these divergent views if there are no principled anchor. What are we reconciling them towards? If it's all about naked self-interest, as Nigerian politics has become, then you're going to end up with irreconcilable, you know, you know, differences. And again, it also speaks to the tempo of this moment that look, this politics has become totally denuded of morals and values and ideology.

[00:08:50]And so, naked naked interest, you know, clash and leadership is weak. And so, you you don't get the result you want. So, what will happen elsewhere? We're going to see that it's going to happen in a lot of places depending on if there's room enough to become other parties or whatever. People stay in-house and antagonize their platform.

[00:09:08]>> Indeed, Dr. Sam Amadi. Thanks, sir, for your analysis on Omoyele Sowore's resignation from ADC. It's good to have you.