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The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State is already tearing at the seams, barely weeks after the dramatic defection of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and his political machine. Information spreading on social media platforms titled “DELTA APC SPLIT WIDENS: OMO-AGEGE, IBORI, NWOKO FACTION AND LEGACY APC STRUCTURE PRODUCE PARALLEL EXECUTIVES IN DELTA; OBOREVWORI–OKOWA CAMP CONDUCT SEPARATE CONGRESS,” makes pointer to this. It brings to the fore, what was sold as a strategic realignment has rapidly degenerated into a brazen power grab, marked by exclusion, parallel congresses and allegations of list manipulation that echo the worst years of the party’s fallen rival.

According to the story, at the heart of the crisis is an alleged bitter struggle for control of the party’s grassroots structure. On one side is the bloc aligned with Ovie Omo-Agege, Chief James Ibori and Senator Ned Nwoko, which insists it represents the authentic legacy APC in Delta. On the other is the Oborevwori camp, operating in tandem with the structure of former PDP governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, now freshly imported into the APC.

The result: parallel ward congresses across the state, rival executives, and a party lurching toward internal anarchy.

Leaders of the Delta North APC Coalition for Equity accuse the Oborevwori-aligned camp of running a carefully choreographed exclusion exercise—one that shut out the very party members who built the APC in Delta when it was unfashionable and fought for it when it was weak. According to the coalition, so-called “consensus lists” were drawn up in closed rooms, without notice, consultation or respect for party constitution.

At a joint briefing, coalition leaders declared that the Omo-Agege–Ibori–Nwoko tendency retains the loyalty of the overwhelming majority of pre-defection ward and local government leaders, many of whom participated in the parallel congresses they organised. They describe the governor’s process not as consensus, but as conquest.

Specific petitions from the wards paint an even uglier picture.

In Ward 8, Umuebu, Ukwuani Local Government Area, recognised APC leaders formally rejected what they described as a fraudulently altered executive list. They insist a harmonised list was unanimously adopted at a properly convened meeting on February 8, 2026—only for the ward chairman, allegedly acting with a political ally, to substitute names behind their backs and submit the doctored list as official. The signatories flatly declared the altered list null and void.

In Ward 6, Ndokwa East, the allegations are just as damning. A petition addressed to Governor Oborevwori accused certain actors of running a congress without the knowledge of the ward chairman and ward leader, in open defiance of party directives. Even after a fresh consensus process was ordered and conducted, one of the duly selected officers was reportedly dumped at the state level—allegedly for opposing Okowa’s senatorial ambition.

The message being sent, petitioners warn, is that some individuals are now above the APC constitution.

The backlash has spread beyond isolated wards. Several ward chairmen across Delta North, in a protest letter copied to Senator Nwoko, warned that the imposed “consensus” process has created widespread resentment and a sense of deliberate marginalisation among longstanding party faithful. These are the same grassroots actors who mobilised for Bola Tinubu during the 2023 presidential election, and who now feel discarded like expendable tools.

While the Oborevwori–Okowa camp maintains that its congresses followed party directives, the growing stack of petitions, protests and parallel executives tells a different story: one of arrogance, selective enforcement of rules, and a familiar Delta political script.

That script should worry the APC’s national leadership. This is exactly how the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) imploded in Delta, through unmanaged grievances, parallel loyalties, and the steady alienation of core stakeholders. The irony is brutal: many of the political actors who presided over the PDP’s collapse are now front and centre in the APC’s new power structure in Delta State..

The APC in Delta is standing at a dangerous crossroads. It can confront this creeping impunity, enforce its constitution, and build an inclusive structure that respects legacy members. Or it can repeat the PDP’s mistakes, papering over cracks until the house collapses.

If history is any guide, parties in Delta don’t die suddenly. They rot from within. And the smell is already in the air.