By Jemimah Wellington, JKNewsMedia Reporter
SHOCKWAVES ROLLED through Nigeria’s South-South region as Delta State’s political establishment abandoned the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and pledged allegiance to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, his predecessor Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, and senior stakeholders made the move official after an extraordinary meeting at Government House, Asaba — ending over two decades of PDP dominance in the state.
The defection, described as unanimous and deeply considered, followed months of internal consultations triggered by mounting discontent with the PDP’s national leadership.
Former Senator and pioneer PDP Chairman in Delta, James Manager, delivered the news with a blunt maritime metaphor: “You don’t stay on a capsizing boat. I’m a riverine man. When the tide turns, you move.”
At the heart of the fallout was a recent PDP Governors’ Forum resolution rejecting coalitions with other parties ahead of the 2027 elections.
According to Manager, the decision demoralised party loyalists and exposed the PDP’s structural weaknesses.
“With just 11 governors, how do you expect to unseat an incumbent president?
That resolution broke the spirit of many,” he said. “Today’s decision is a collective response to a party losing its bearings.”
Commissioner for Works (Rural Roads) and Public Information, Charles Aniagwu, echoed the sentiment. “When the taste of the palm wine changes, you change your drinking pattern,” he said.
“Delta’s political temperature has shifted. Staying in the PDP would only derail our developmental momentum.”
Present at the pivotal meeting were Deputy Governor Sir Monday Onyeme, immediate past Governor Okowa, Speaker of the State House of Assembly Rt. Hon. Emomotimi Guwor, National Assembly members, Commissioners, Local Government chairmen, and other key officials.
All resolved to follow Oborevwori into the APC.
The official reception is scheduled for Monday at the Cenotaph in Asaba, where Vice President Kashim Shettima will welcome the defectors into the APC fold — a major symbolic win for the ruling party.
Delta State’s 1.4 million votes could prove pivotal in the next general election.
The defection of a sitting governor and his predecessor — both longstanding PDP figures — marks a historic collapse of the party’s power base in the region.
It is the first such move since the return to civilian rule in 1999.
With the defection, the APC tightens its grip on the South-South, and the PDP — once dominant — faces an uncertain path to recovery in one of its former strongholds, they all admitted.
