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By Chuks Iloegbunam.

April 23, 2025, had come in the cruel form of a massive shellshock. Without warning, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, the immediate past Governor of Delta State, decamped to the APC, taking with him his handpicked successor, Sheriff Oborevwori. The news of the duo’s bewildering defection claimed that they had carried with them the entire Delta State PDP structure. Many hadn’t heard the gun’s uproarious report; what they beheld was the comatose form of a party that had governed Delta since the Fourth Republic’s inception in 1999.

Had the defections sounded the death knell of the People’s Democratic Party in Delta State? To understand the import of the seismic shift that occurred, it is appropriate to invoke the testimony of contemporary history. Chief James Onanefe Ibori carried the PDP Delta flag in 1999, winning the governorship and serving two terms until 2007. He was from the Delta South Senatorial District. Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan from the Delta Central Senatorial District succeeded him. When Dr Uduaghan finished his second term in office, it was Delta North’s turn to produce a gubernatorial candidate.

Dr Ifeanyi Okowa emerged as the PDP’s gubernatorial candidate in a keenly contested primary. Predictably, he swept the polls and became a two-term Governor whose term elapsed in 2023. In line with the Delta PDP’s acclaimed zoning system, it was time for the governorship to return to Delta Central. Thus, the 60-year-old Hon. Sheriff Francis Oborevwori emerged as Governor. He won the gubernatorial ballot, polling 360,234 votes. His closest contestant, the APC’s Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, registered a dismal 120.005 votes short of the trouncing Oborevwori’s vote haul. With such a decisive victory, PDP faithful assumed that he would serve Delta State and the party for two terms and hand over the baton to continue the rotational governorship scheme.

Then came the April 23, 2025, shocker. Governor Oborevwori defected to the APC “in a strategic alignment with the ruling party, influenced by stakeholders for state development.” To many observers, the chanted “strategic alignment” sounded like a catchphrase intended to flummox. To the remnant of the Delta PDP and, indeed, the national body, time required elapsing for them to get their act together and stage a fightback. As a Nigerian proverb says, in searching for a gem buried deep in a tree’s trunk, the services of a bird with a long, strong and pointed beak must be engaged.

That was how Professor Sylvester Monye, a versatile technocrat, emerged on Thursday, February 5, 2026, as the Chairman of the PDP Caretaker Committee in Delta State. Monye was a contestant in the primary that produced Dr. Okowa as the governorship candidate. He dutifully served as a Senior Policy Adviser in Okowa’s government through its eight years. Before then, he had served as Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (PM&E). Even before that national political appointment, Monye had acquitted himself creditably in numerous high-performance portfolios. As a civil servant, he was the Director of International Relations at the Federal Ministry of Finance. He was thereafter the Executive Secretary of the National Planning Commission for five years. A Fellow of the Academy of Marketing Science, he has held directorships in top-flight bodies, including Transcorp Power Ltd., the Bank of Industry, the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission and The National Hospital, Abuja.

Professor Monye presaged his numerous significant appointments with laudable academic achievements. He holds an MBA from Southbank University, London, and Master’s and doctorate degrees in International Marketing Management from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. For his services to Nigeria, he was awarded the national honour of Member of the Federal Republic (MFR) by President Umaru Yar’Adua in 2008.

Little wonder that most casual observers see Professor Monye solely as a technocrat. But he is a seasoned politician whose loyalty to the PDP has remained ever so constant. Because of his genial mien, his reputation as a hard-headed political thinker is often glossed over. Fortunately, his peers and associates, in recognition of his political astuteness, appointed him to front the crusade to retrieve the Delta State PDP from the doldrums. He has a formidable team to go into battle with. They include key factors in the State PDP such as Ujor Ucheonny, Hon. Johnbull Aghogho Kenairu, Jackson Agbor, Onajega Mike, Chief Ekiyor Charles, Hon. Mrs. Vero Egbuna, Chukwunonso Alex Ndah and Walter Uguoye.

A significant aspect of last Thursday’s swearing-in ceremony of the Delta PDP Caretaker Committee is that it registered a full house. Professor Monye said they had planned for a thousand attendees. But even before the event officially began, over 5000 members had thronged the venue, with more people sitting or standing outside the hall than having a place inside. He added that not a single one of those in attendance had been paid any fee to show up. “They came because they knew it was the right thing to do, not because there was largesse to distribute, which there wasn’t.”

Many of the PDP stalwarts in attendance berated the “turncoats” who betrayed the PDP with decampment, saying that their departure has not resulted in a mortal blow to the state PDP. There had been no power failure during the ceremony. All the air-conditioning units inside the hall functioned at full capacity. Yet, the sheer magnitude of the numbers present overwhelmed them. Unsurprisingly, Professor Monye, cognizant that tomorrow is greater than today, had his sights firmly set on a forward-looking position. He said that the teeming throngs already said everything positive for the party. “What we have now is a new brand of democracy that is bottom-up. We are going to allow every member to own their party and run with their party. We are not going to impose candidates on any wards, local governments or the state. We will let the people decide. Our mantra is democracy from the grassroots. We are happy. We are excited that the PDP is back in Delta State.”