By Our Correspondents
The man who once stood as the face of the APC in Delta State has walked away from the party he helped build. His departure marks the end of a long and bitter struggle for control, one he ultimately lost to forces he could not overcome.
Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, former Deputy President of the Senate and Obarisi of Urhoboland, is now out of the APC. How did it come to this? What series of events could force a man of his political stature to abandon the platform that made him a deputy senate president and took him to the verge of becoming governor of Delta State? Spear News Nigeria pieced together the inside story.
The former Deputy Senate President announced his resignation yesterday, citing the inability to “advance the interests of Delta Central” as the official reason. But investigations by Spear News Nigeria reveal a deeper narrative of an alleged political marginalisation, a humiliating primary defeat, and a complete takeover of the Delta APC structure by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori.
The Two Factions That Divided Delta APC
Long before Governor Oborevwori left the PDP, the Delta State APC was already a house divided against itself. For years, the party operated under two rival factions, each claiming legitimacy and refusing to yield ground.
The Omo-Agege Faction
This faction was led by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and Chief Great Ogboru. Following the party’s internal crisis after the 2019 congresses, this faction emerged as the dominant force, taking control of the party structures and presenting Omo-Agege as the leader of the APC in Delta State. His position as Deputy President of the 9th Senate gave him considerable influence in Abuja, which he used to consolidate control over the state machinery.
The Emerhor/Keyamo Faction
The other faction was led by the founding leader of the APC in Delta State, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor. Aligned with him was the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Chief Festus Keyamo (SAN). As the highest-ranking political appointee from Delta State in President Tinubu’s cabinet, Keyamo believed he deserved recognition as the party’s leader in the state, a claim the Omo-Agege faction fiercely rejected.
The rift between these two camps paralysed the party for months. Several reconciliation attempts failed.
The Reconciliation Committee and the Rejection
In a final effort to resolve the crisis, a reconciliation committee was set up under the leadership of Olorogun Emerhor himself. The committee worked diligently and produced a report aimed at bringing peace to the warring factions.
The Majority Report recommended a collegiate leadership structure, power-sharing between Omo-Agege and Keyamo. The report argued that collective leadership was necessary for the party to grow.
The Minority Report, backed by Omo-Agege’s loyalists, rejected this entirely. Sources close to the party told 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮 that the Omo-Agege faction wanted it all. They argued that Omo-Agege, as a former Deputy President of the Senate and the party’s 2023 governorship candidate, could not be reduced to a co-chair with a minister.
Citing the national order of precedence, they insisted he remained the undisputed leader of the APC in Delta State and would not share power.
The Omo-Agege faction’s demand left the committee hamstrung. Sources close to the committee told this newspaper that President Tinubu was unhappy with the inflexibility displayed by the Omo-Agege camp.
“In fact, that was why the President’s men started pushing for the Governor to join the APC. They wanted to bridge the leadership gap that Omo-Agege kept widening,” a source said.
The problem was that the Omo-Agege faction refused any solution that did not give them total control. The disagreement became public and bitter, freezing the party for months.
Who Is Senator Ede Dafinone?
It is against this backdrop of factional war that the man who would eventually push Omo-Agege out of the Senate entered the picture.
Senator Ede Dafinone comes from a distinguished political dynasty. His late father, Senator David Dafinone, was a respected senator who represented Delta Central in the Second Republic.
Dafinone’s political journey is significant:
· 1998: He became a founding member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Delta State.
· 2006: He contested the Delta Central Senatorial PDP primaries.
· 2013: He ran for the Delta Central Senatorial bye-election as the candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), claiming he was rigged out of his mandate.
· 2014: He made a decisive move—among the first group of politicians in Delta State to leave their former parties and join the All Progressives Congress (APC). He has remained a staunch APC member since.
· 2023: He contested and won the Delta Central senatorial election on the APC platform, succeeding Ovie Omo-Agege, who had vacated the seat to run for governor.
· November 2023: The Appeal Court dismissed a challenge to his election and upheld his mandate.
Thus, when Dafinone faced Omo-Agege in the 2026 primary, he was not an outsider. He was an incumbent senator seeking re-election on the same platform he had helped build since 2014—running against the very man he had succeeded.
The Senate Primary Debacle
The immediate trigger for Omo-Agege’s resignation was the APC Senate primary election for Delta Central held last week.
Incumbent Senator Ede Dafinone sought a second-term ticket. Omo-Agege, seeking to return to the Senate, challenged him. What followed was a political massacre.
Results announced by the electoral committee showed Dafinone winning with a landslide 116,252 votes. Omo-Agege, a former Deputy President of the Senate and the man who had led the party in the state just months earlier, polled a paltry 3,643 votes.
The margin was staggering. Dafinone, who had once been an ally of Omo-Agege, had successfully pitched his tent with the Majority Report faction, aligning with Emerhor and Keyamo against the former Deputy Senate President. His deep roots in Delta politics, from his PDP founding days to his early defection to the APC, gave him a network that Omo-Agege could not match.
Omo-Agege rejected the results, describing the process as flawed and alleging that the party machinery had been weaponised against him. But party leadership upheld the outcome, leaving him with no internal recourse.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗼𝗿’𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝘄
The primary defeat was devastating, but it was not the beginning of Omo-Agege’s troubles. It was the climax of a process that had begun months earlier with the defection of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori from the PDP to the APC in April 2025.
𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮 gathered that Omo-Agege fought vigorously to prevent this defection. At a stakeholders’ meeting in Agbor on February 4, 2025, he publicly declared that while the party was open to welcoming other PDP members, Oborevwori and his predecessor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, were not welcome.
“We have built this party from scratch, and we will not allow people with questionable records to destroy what we have worked hard for,” Omo-Agege had said.
Despite this spirited resistance, the defection was orchestrated from above. Chief James Ibori, the political godfather of Delta State and a close ally of President Bola Tinubu, facilitated the move. With the weight of the presidency behind the governor, Omo-Agege was overruled.
By April 28, 2025, Omo-Agege had been forced to make a dramatic about-face. In a statement, he publicly welcomed Oborevwori and directed all APC organs to receive the new entrants, urging “unity, understanding, and a shared commitment.”
It was a surrender. And with that surrender, Omo-Agege lost his position as the de facto leader of the APC in Delta State.
The arrival of Oborevwori did not unite the party; it merely replaced one factional leader with a more powerful one. The internal battle between Omo-Agege and Keyamo was subsumed by the governor’s political machine. By mid-2025, the Delta APC had effectively split into the “old APC” (led by Omo-Agege and the original members) and the “new APC” (led by Oborevwori and the defectors from the PDP).
The numbers favoured the governor. When the primary came, Omo-Agege’s faction was simply outmatched.
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗯𝘂’𝘀 𝗠𝗲𝗻 𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗕𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀
This is where the inside story takes a darker turn. 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮 can reveal that Omo-Agege’s fate was sealed not in Delta State but in Abuja.
Sources close to the presidency confided that President Tinubu’s political strategists reviewed the Delta APC crisis and made a cold calculation. Governor Oborevwori, as a sitting governor, controls the state apparatus, local government chairmen, and a network of delegates that Omo-Agege could never match. The President wants to win Delta State, like other states in the South West, in 2027. Oborevwori promised to deliver it. This was no longer about Omo-Agege. Oborevwori was simply the best bet.
A top APC source who pleaded anonymity told 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮: “The President cannot sacrifice an entire state for one man, no matter how loyal that man has been. Tinubu needs Delta. Oborevwori showed him the numbers. The number is all that matters”
There is also the lingering wound of 2023. Although Omo-Agege’s camp has consistently denied the allegations, whispers have never died that he worked against Tinubu during the presidential election. Whether true or not, the suspicion stuck. And when Oborevwori came knocking with a massive structure and a promise of allegiance, the choice for Tinubu’s men was easy.
𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘅 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗮?
The National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Felix Morka, is widely regarded as a loyalist of Senator Omo-Agege. In March 2025, Morka publicly declared Omo-Agege as the leader of the APC in Delta State. The reaction from the state chapter was swift and brutal. The Delta APC, through its Publicity Secretary Valentine Onojeghuo, issued a statement rejecting Morka’s declaration, calling it “false,” “insensitive,” and “personal ramblings.” They accused Morka of trying to impose a leader on the party and warned him to stay out of Delta affairs.
The crisis escalated. A petition was filed against Morka seeking his removal. The State Executive Committee (SEC) of the party in Delta actually opposed that petition, but not because they supported Morka. They opposed it because they accused the State Chairman, Elder Omeni Sobotie, of acting unilaterally. The SEC instead turned their guns on Sobotie, calling him incompetent and accusing him of financial compromises with the PDP.
Where does this leave Morka now that his political godfather has left the party? 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮 can reveal that party insiders are already asking questions. Some believe Morka will stay and try to navigate the new reality. Others whisper that his position has become untenable, that he cannot remain the national spokesman of a party while his political mentor has branded that same party a place where he cannot thrive.
A party source in Abuja told 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮: “Felix is in a difficult place. He spoke for Omo-Agege. He called him the leader. Now that leader has called the party a place where he cannot advance the interests of his people. How does Felix explain that at the next NWC meeting?”
For now, Morka has not commented on Omo-Agege’s resignation. But his silence is being watched closely.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
In his resignation letter addressed to the Chairman of Orogun Ward 2, Ughelli North LGA, Senator Omo-Agege made his position clear.
“I will not remain a sitting duck in a party where I cannot advance the interests of Delta Central, Delta State and Nigeria,” the statement read.
He thanked the APC for the opportunity to serve as Deputy President of the 9th Senate but requested that his name be removed from all party records.
His media adviser, Sunday Areh, confirmed that the former senator would now pursue his political objectives outside the APC.
𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗵
Omo-Agege’s resignation leaves the Delta APC firmly under Governor Oborevwori’s control, with the Emerhor/Keyamo faction now fully integrated into the new order. But the “old APC” wounds have not healed, they have simply been expelled.
For the Obarisi of Urhoboland, the decision to leave was not merely about losing a primary. It was the culmination of a long war: first against Emerhor and Keyamo for control of the old APC, and finally against Governor Oborevwori for the soul of the new APC. He lost both battles, largely because he refused to share power when the opportunity existed.
Speculation is already mounting about a possible move to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) ahead of the 2027 governorship election. What is certain is that Omo-Agege is not done with politics. He is just done with the APC.
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