Since 1999, Delta, an oil-rich state in the South-South part of Nigeria with a population of 5.6 million, has been governed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The PDP won 65.28 percent of the votes cast (558,332) in 1999, while the All People’s Party (APP) scored 34.72 percent, garnering 296,902 votes.
James Ibori won the election for a second term in 2003 under the PDP, defeating other political parties such as the ANPP, All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), and Alliance for Democracy (AD).
Emmanuel Uduaghan, another PDP governor, served as a two-term governor of the state between 2007 and 2015.
The outgoing governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, is also a member of the PDP, and has been in the saddle since 2015.
The history and sequence may predict that the PDP will produce the next governor of the state, but so many things have changed in the last six months.
Internal wrangling, power tussle and politics of bitterness have characterised the party in recent times.
The climax of these was the PDP’s inability to win the state for the presidential election despite producing the vice presidential candidate of the party, Ifeanyi Okowa.
PDP and internal divisions
Before the 2023 presidential election result that created some frenzy, there had been an internal division within the ranks and files of the PDP.
For instance, James Ibori, a former governor of the state with corruption scandals, was reportedly at loggerheads with the incumbent state governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, with respect to who would emerge as the party standard bearer for the upcoming governorship elections scheduled for March 11.
The infraction created a huge challenge for the party regarding who would fly its flag on Saturday’s governorship election.
In July 2022, a former Commissioner of Finance under the James Ibori administration, David Edevbie, got an injunction at a Federal High Court that disqualified Sherrif Oborevwori (Delta state House of Assembly speaker) as the governorship candidate of the PDP for the 2023 elections.
Edevbie claimed he was the bonafide candidate of the PDP in the state.
The Supreme Court later upturned the lower court’s decision, granting Okowa’s candidate, Sherrif Oborevwori, the governorship ticket at the expense of David Edevbie, who is Ibori’s ally and candidate.
Despite the claims of reconciliation after the Supreme Court judgment, Ibori has not publicly expressed support for Oborevwori, although former governor Uduaghan has openly done so.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) standard bearer and Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, is waxing stronger even though he also faces criticisms for the role he played in the missing mace saga. The party is also hard hit by internal wrangling and counter-allegations.
An ex-secretary of All Progressives Congress in the state, Nick Ovuakporie, who recently joined the PDP, stated that the APC wcould not win due to internal discord.
The party has publicly discussed disagreements towards the governorship election.
The 2023 presidential, National Assembly results problem
According to details of the 2023 presidential election, the Labour Party (LP) was declared the overall winner, representing a shift from the PDP by the electorate.
The LP won the presidential election in the state with 341,866 votes, while PDP got 161,600 votes. The APC got 90,183 votes.
The results of the senatorial election also indicated that if the voting patterns remained, the Saturday election may throw up surprises.
For instance, the Delta Central Senatorial election was won by the APC’s Ede Dafinone, who defeated the PDP’s Senator Ighoyota Amori by 109,197 votes to 101,385 votes respectively.
The party also won the Delta South Senatorial election with Joel Onowakpo winning with 49,955 votes compared to PDP’s Micheal Diden, who got 47,656.
Ned Nwoko won the Delta North Senatorial election under the PDP, garnering 92,514 votes to defeat Labour Party’s Kennedy Kanma who polled 86,121 votes.
It means that the APC won two senatorial seats in the state against the PDP’s one.
Before the 2023 elections, Delta PDP had controlled two seats in the Nigerian Senate, while the APC held one seat.
While the LP did not win senatorial seats, it did fare well in the House of Representatives election.
The LP’s Ngozi Okolie won the Aniocha Oshimili Federal Constituency election with 53,879 votes to defeat the PDP’s Ndudi Elumelu who scored 33,456 votes. Elumelu is the current representative for the constituency and the House of Representatives minority leader.
The Okpe, Sapele and Uvwie Federal Constituency seat was won by the LP standard bearer, Benedict Etanabene, who defeated the PDP and APC. He scored 37,107 votes, defeating PDP which scored 29,917 votes.
Before the 2023 elections, the PDP had always won the majority of the House of Representatives seats in the state. The PDP had won nine of the available 10 seats in 2019.
Where are the candidates from?
Where a party’s standard bearer comes from is seen as a key factor. Another important factor is the suppprt of the Obidient Movement (supporters of LP’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi). Should the movement support any candidate separate from the LP candidate, Ken Pela, the favoured candidate may coast home to victory, according to a politician in Delta State, Ben Ebede.
APC’s Ovie Omo Agege is from Ughelli in Delta Central Senatorial district, a district that has eight local government areas.
PDP’s Sheriff Oborevwori is from Okpe, also in Delta Central Senatorial district.
Labour Party’s Ken Pela is from Ughelli, also in Delta Central Senatorial district.
All the three major parties picked Delta Central, which is seen as the rightful area to produce the next governor.
The Chief Press Secretary to the Delta State governor, Olisa Ifejika, believes that the PDP will win the Delta State governorship election.
He blamed the party’s loss at the state’s presidential elections on the Obidients Movement.
“The Obidients Movement thing caused a lot of disruption, but that is changing now. The people who voted did that because of Peter Obi, not for the Labour Party, and now that the election is over, they have come to the realisation that APC cannot be allowed in power and, thus, have started coming back to the PDP.”
He argued that there was no internal discord within the ranks and file of the party, stating that the governorship election would still be won by the PDP come March 11.
However, APC’s Omo-Agege believes the party will coast home to victory. He is wooing the Obedient Movement, asking them to support him. Whether they will heed his call or not will only be confirmed on March 11.
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