UPDATED: Gov Oborevwori, deputy, commissioners defect to APC

Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State, his deputy, Monday Onyeme, and his commissioners have defected from Nigeria’s main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Channels TV reported that Mr Oborevwori’s predecessor, Ifeanyi Okowa, who was the PDP vice presidential candidate to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 general elections also defected to the ruling party along with his successor.

Mr Okowa dumped the PDP about five months after he was detained by the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, over corruption allegations.

Channels Television reported that their defection was announced at a press briefing on Wednesday in Asaba, the state capital.

In a clip, Mr Oborevwori asks reporters, “Do you want to hear from me?” shortly after a meeting with the 25 council chairpersons in the state.

“Yes,” a reporter responded to the governor.

“You will hear from me on Monday. I just briefed my council chairpersons (in the 25 LGAS), they said where Mr Sheriff goes, they will go,” the governor said in the clip, referring to Monday as his official defection.

“Where Sheriff goes, we go,” one of the chairpersons said in the clip, indicating acceptance to move to the new party with the governor.

Gale of defections

The PDP, a former ruling party that prided itself on being “the largest party in Africa,” is bedevilled by a series of defections by its members to the APC.

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In late January, Delta North senator, Ned Nwoko, resigned from the PDP to the APC and was officially received the following month by the party’s National Chairperson, Abdullahi Ganduje.

Mr Nwoko exited the PDP after weeks of speculation about a strained relationship between him, Governor Oborevwori, and former Governor Okowa.

His defection swelled the number of lawmakers who have defected from opposition parties to the ruling APC in the National Assembly.

APC on the verge of taking over PDP in south-south

The PDP was, before now, a dominant political party in the oil-rich south-south geopolitical zone, but its dominance is seriously threatened by the gale of defection and election losses.

Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Edo, Cross River, and Delta states were originally PDP strongholds in 1999, when democracy returned to the country.

However, in 2027, Edo State fell to defunct Action Congress (AC) when Adams Oshiomhole, a former labour leader, defeated the then PDP governor, Oserheimen Osunbor, in court to become the governor of the state in 2008. The AC later merged with other political parties to form the APC, which took over power at the national level in 2015.

READ ALSO: PDP speaks on Gov Eno’s alleged plan to defect to APC

In 2021, Cross River State fell to the APC after then-Governor Ben Ayade defected from the PDP to the APC. He said he wanted “to take Cross River to the centre.” The APC won the state in the 2023 governorship election.

With Mr Oborevwori’s defection to the APC, the party now controls three states in the south-south, just like the PDP.

But there are speculations that Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State may defect to the APC soon.

Mr Eno, a PDP member, has repeatedly endorsed President Bola Tinubu and Senate President Godswill Akpabio for a second term.