ASABA/Nigeria: In a stunning realignment that has sent shockwaves across Nigeria’s political landscape, Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, his predecessor Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, and a host of other top leaders have dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to pitch their tent with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
The dramatic defection was announced Wednesday at the Government House in Asaba, following a high-stakes meeting of PDP stakeholders, where the once-dominant party’s most influential figures in Delta State reached what they described as a “unanimous decision” to abandon the PDP.
Pioneer Chairman of the PDP in Delta and a founding father of the party in the state, Senator James Manager, who addressed the gathering, did not mince words in expressing the frustration of members with the party’s direction at the national level.
“You have just been told about some of the things that have been happening in the PDP Delta State,” Manager began. “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.”
Using a metaphor that underscored his disillusionment, he added: “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 else. It is a collective decision for so many reasons.”
He cited recent decisions by the PDP Governors’ Forum, particularly a resolution at a meeting in Ibadan to reject a coalition strategy for 2027, as a final straw. “That particular resolution killed the spirit of so many PDP members. How do you go into a contest with an incumbent president with just 11 governors? You think you can win?”
State Commissioner for Works (Rural Roads) and Public Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, corroborated the frustrations, saying the decision followed extensive consultations. “It is said that when the taste of the palm wine changes, the drinking pattern also changes. The leaders of the party were unanimous in their view that the political temperature has changed,” Aniagwu said.
He noted that the PDP’s national instability had become untenable. “We believe what is happening in the PDP at the national level can be likened to that palm wine whose taste has changed. And that is why this decision has been taken,” he added.
The move by Oborevwori and Okowa, both political heavyweights in Delta and the South-South zone, deals a serious blow to the PDP’s structure ahead of the 2027 general elections. With Oborevwori now aligning with APC, the ruling party stands to gain strategic advantage in the South-South, adding Delta’s estimated 1.4 million votes to President Bola Tinubu’s re-election calculus.
Sources confirmed that all PDP stakeholders at the meeting—including the Deputy Governor Sir Monday Onyeme, members of the State and National Assemblies, commissioners, local government chairmen, and top party officials—have agreed to formally defect alongside the governor at a grand rally scheduled for Monday at the Cenotaph in Asaba, where they will be received by Vice President Kashim Shettima.
“This is not just a move; it is a movement,” one senior official said. “The PDP in Delta has effectively collapsed into the APC.”
Political observers say the development marks a pivotal shift in Delta State politics and could trigger similar waves of defection across other PDP strongholds in the region.
