SIR: A powerful and sinister force has been unleashed on Delta All Progressives Congress (APC). That force is sowing seeds of discord and undertaking a hostile takeover of the party itself. It’s a strong and powerful force operating with deep pockets and dashing boldness. 

A few days ago, Rev. Francis Waive, an APC  member representing Ughelli North/Ughelli South/Udu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives called on Governor Sheriff Oborevwori to abandon the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and run the next election as APC candidate. Waive assured the governor that the slot would be reserved for him in APC.  He later affirmed to the PDP governor that he would be adopted by the APC to contest the coming governorship election as candidate of APC in Delta State.

Before then, the Chairman of APC in Delta State, Elder Omeni Sobotie sent a petition to the National Chairman of APC, demanding first, the removal from office of the National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Felix Morka, for clarifying the illegality of setting up a “Leadership Council” in Delta State.

These people and others were all listed to be members of a “Leadership Council”, an illegal body proposed to be set up by a group in the party. The proposal for a council, which has now been rejected by the National Working Committee (NWC), was a subtle move to impose a new and unelected leadership on the APC in Delta State. It was a grand move by the sinister force to legitimise the hijack of APC and hand the leadership over to PDP. Oborevwori, the PDP governor, was proposed to inherit the growing popularity of APC and retain the governor’s seat, the next time, as APC governor. 

The subterranean force, which first came in the name of “Leadership Council” is working with determination and boldness to take over the APC and reinforce an elite group determined to hijack the leadership and chart a dangerous course for the party in the 2027 governorship election. APC is poised to take over Delta, but the PDP is implementing a deep penetration operation into the party, its agents in high places muddling things up to achieve a hostile takeover of APC before 2027.

The former Deputy President of the Senate and the party’s 2023 governorship candidate, Omo-Agege has been engaging with the party’s rank and file, opposing the Delta State government’s stance on governance ahead of the 2027 election. With a party election scheduled later, these leaders would serve the party well by waiting for the congress to settle the matter of a new executive committee and establish a new party structure.

The PDP’s losses were sweeping, with the party ceding all three House of Representatives seats in Delta Central Senatorial  District to the APC and Labour Party, which won two and one seats, respectively. Notably, Oborevwori failed to carry his own senatorial district, losing the popular vote to APC governorship candidate Omo-Agege. The APC’s strong performance in the district extended to the House of Assembly elections, where the party secured five seats, surpassing the PDP’s four seats.

With so many people leaving the party in droves, PDP is aware that it can no longer win elections in Delta State. So what to do? It molts, shedding its skin to the form and brand of APC and transmuting into a party aligned with the presidency, confiscating the brand of APC and continuing in the ruin of Delta State while keeping its inner core as PDP.

So when you see the insistent muddling of the leadership and governorship contest in APC by its own elite, understand that the game is to ensure that Ovie Omo-Agege does not emerge as a governorship candidate of the APC, and the pressure will mount to prepare the grounds for Oborevwori’s  defection into APC as the governorship candidate. 

The insult to the APC is not obvious to these black legs of the party in Delta. That they cannot find anyone from among themselves capable of leadership is a shame that they don’t realise its portents. It remains a depressing irony that the state chairman of the party listed 41 “who’s who” personalities in APC in Delta State, as contained in his petition to the National Chairman. That they cannot find one person among these men and women is the ultimate disgrace. 

It is the insistence of former PDP Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, to field Sheriff as governorship candidate of PDP that caused the rupture in the party, and brought its evocative decline in Delta State. Now the same runaways from PDP are bringing the same Sheriff as governorship candidate of the APC. It’s a clear path to ruin.
• Basil Okoh (@basilokoh) is a Public Commentator, based in Agbor Delta State