Delta 2027: Omo-Agege challenging political establishment he helped to build

By Egufe Yafugborhi For a politician who once occupied the number three position in Nigeria’s constitutional order, served two terms in the Senate and declared that he had completed his legislative assignment, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege’s decision to seek a return to the Red Chamber presents an intriguing twist in Delta State’s changing political history.

More intriguing is his choice of Delta Central, the district he represented for eight years. He is now facing Senator Ede Dafinone, the incumbent he helped bring into the Senate in 2023, but who now belongs to the political establishment that has taken over the party Omo-Agege once controlled in Delta. It is a contest laden with political irony, bruised relationships and competing ambitions, raising questions about whether personal political capital can survive the collapse of an established political structure.

Today, Omo-Agege is seeking a Senate return on the platform of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), while Dafinone remains the APC incumbent, backed by a party now accommodating much of Delta’s former PDP political establishment. From Ibori’s government to the Senate Omo-Agege’s political journey has taken him through government, opposition politics and national legislative influence.

A lawyer, he began his major political career under former Governor James Ibori, serving as Executive Assistant, Commissioner for Special Duties and later Secretary to the Delta State Government between 2003 and 2007. After leaving government, he returned to private business and political mobilisation, eventually emerging as senator representing Delta Central in 2015.

His re-election in 2019 elevated his stature further. He became Deputy President of the Ninth Senate, placing him among the most influential political officeholders from the Niger Delta. But in 2023, he abandoned the familiar senatorial contest to challenge for the governorship under the APC against Sheriff Oborevwori, the PDP candidate and successor to former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa.

It was a bruising contest that divided political loyalties across Delta. Oborevwori eventually polled 360,234 votes against Omo-Agege’s 240,229, ending his immediate governorship ambition but not his political relevance. The Political Tsunami And The Lost Territory The defining rupture came in 2025. Before Oborevwori and Okowa moved into the APC, Omo-Agege openly challenged their proposed entry.

At an APC stakeholders’ engagement in February, he declared that the two leaders had no moral ground to abandon the PDP, a party they had repeatedly described as insurmountable in Delta. He insisted they should remain in the PDP and rebuild the structure they had once celebrated. He argued that the APC had already established itself in Delta, winning two senatorial seats and other legislative positions in 2023, and did not need the wholesale arrival of politicians who had spent years presenting the PDP as unbeatable.

But on April 23, 2025, Oborevwori, Okowa and a formidable assembly of former PDP political officeholders defected to the APC. The development fundamentally altered the balance of power. Interestingly, after the defection became reality, Omo-Agege issued a statement welcoming the governor and other defectors, describing their entry as a significant milestone for the APC and urging existing members to embrace them.

That public welcome, however, did not settle the question of who would control the party’s political machinery. The former PDP establishment arrived with the governor, former governor, lawmakers, local government structures and a substantial political network. For Omo-Agege, the challenge became how to retain influence within an APC whose internal balance had changed dramatically.

Dafinone: From political successor to rival The relationship with Dafinone gives the 2027 contest another dimension. In 2023, Omo-Agege vacated the Senate seat to pursue the governorship, with Dafinone emerging as the APC candidate for Delta Central. Dafinone won and became his successor. Three years later, the succession arrangement has become a contest for the same seat.

At the APC senatorial primary in May 2026, the party’s committee declared Dafinone winner with 116,252 votes against Omo-Agege’s 3,643. Omo-Agege disputed the outcome, claiming results collated from the district’s 85 wards showed he had won. He subsequently resigned from the APC, joined the NDC and declared his intention to contest Delta Central again.

What might have been an internal party contest has consequently become a direct political confrontation across party lines. For Dafinone, it is an opportunity to defend his mandate. For Omo-Agege, it is a bid to reclaim the seat he relinquished for a governorship ambition. The strength of political fighter Omo-Agege’s political appeal rests on his combative disposition, national connections and ability to remain politically visible outside government.

His supporters see a politician who does not easily surrender politica