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• Incumbent senators face ultimate survival test
From Joe Obukata Ogbodu, Warri
As Delta State positions itself for the 2027 political cycle, the traditional battleground has dramatically shifted. With Governor Sheriff Oborevwori firmly entrenched and largely unopposed for a second term, the real warfare has moved to the federal legislative tickets. Today, May 18, is the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primaries; a day that promises to fundamentally redraw the state’s political map.
The current peace is deceptive. The tectonic plates of Delta politics shifted when Governor Oborevwori executed a high-wired political maneuver, pulling the entire formidable structure of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into the ruling APC.
While this masterstroke cleared his gubernatorial path, it threw a massive wrench into the machinery of federal legislative contests.
Now, the state’s three incumbent senators, comprising Ede Dafinone (Delta Central), Prince Ned Nwoko (Delta North) and Thomas Joel-Onowakpo (Delta South), find themselves walking a political tightrope, facing heavyweight challengers and shifting party loyalties.
In Delta Central, it is a deeply personal and strategic face-off between the incumbent, Senator Dafinone, and the former Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege.
Omo-Agege, who painstakingly built the Delta APC opposition architecture during the years of PDP’s dominance, is fighting to reclaim his seat in the Red Chamber. While he still commands grassroots loyalty, the power dynamics have evolved. Dafinone, who inherited the seat after Omo-Agege’s 2023 gubernatorial bid, has spent his tenure cultivating a reputation as a moderate, issue-driven legislator.
Adding intrigue to this race is the covert hand of Governor Oborevwori. Rumours are rife within the party circle that Oborevwori prefers the less combative Dafinone to hold the seat. Speculation suggests a long-term strategy: a quiet pact where Dafinone serves his last one term, leaving the seat open for Oborevwori’s own projected senatorial ambitions in 2031.
Though unverified, the friction is real. When key party stakeholders, including founding leader Olorogun O’tega Emerhor and Minister Festus Keyamo, threw their weight behind Dafinone, it signaled a deliberate effort to pivot the Delta APC away from single-figure dominance toward collective leadership. For Omo-Agege, today is about resisting political marginalisation in the very party he helped to birth.
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The political temperature in Delta South reached a boiling point following the sudden, dramatic exit of a major contender just a few days before the vote.
The incumbent Senator Joel-Onowakpo, a first-term lawmaker praised for his calm demeanor and stellar past records as the state’s tax chief, where he grew internally generated revenue by over 250 percent, had faced criticism over a perceived lack of local engagement and town hall meetings.
Hoping to capitalise on this vulnerability, Omo-Agege initially backed Chief Itiako Ikpokpo (Malik), the former state ALGON chairman, to challenge Joel-Onowakpo. However, on Friday, May 15, after purchasing his N20 million forms and being cleared after screening, Malik abruptly withdrew from the race, citing an uneven playing field and entrenched power play that made a fair contest impossible.
Malik’s exit leaves a straight, high-octane battle between Joel-Onowakpo and political heavyweight, Michael Diden, popularly known as Ejele. Ejele, who narrowly missed winning the seat in 2023 under the PDP banner, has entered the APC fray with massive institutional backing from the APC chieftain, Chief Ayirimi Emami and former minister, Elder Godsday Orubebe.
If Delta Central is about party control, Delta North is a pure battle of political titans. The primaries will see the incumbent Senator Nwoko defending his turf against former Governor Okowa.
Okowa, a veteran strategist, whose career spans from local government chairman to two-term governor and 2023 PDP vice-presidential candidate, has entered the APC arena with his formidable statewide machinery intact. His entry instantly disrupted the race, which Nwoko was previously tipped to win comfortably.
Nwoko has built a populist brand, heavily leveraging his high-profile advocacy for the creation of Anioma State, a cause that has resonated deeply with the youths and the elite. However, Okowa has aggressively countered this narrative during delegate consultations, accusing Nwoko of weaponising the state-creation issue for personal political gain and lacking deep, localised constituent engagement.
Nwoko is fighting back by looking to the centre. He has quietly signalled to delegates that he possesses the backing of the presidency, warning party faithful against handing the APC structure over to the same hands that worked against President Tinubu in 2023.
What might look like a routine internal party primary is, in reality, a defining crossroad for Delta State. As delegates head to the polls today, May 18, the results will do more than just pick candidates for 2027, they will decide who owns the future of political power in Delta.
