Former Deputy Senate President and Obarisi of Urhoboland, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, has responded to comments made by Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori during a public lecture in Lagos, calling for unity within the All Progressives Congress in Delta State and urging the governor to join him in building a reconciled and formidable party ahead of the 2027 general elections.
In a carefully worded statement issued on Wednesday, Omo-Agege acknowledged that Oborevwori had referenced the 2023 Delta State governorship election during his Lagos lecture, but declined to engage the matter as a political adversary, instead framing his response around the shared interest of building a stronger APC capable of delivering electoral victory across the state.
“If we were still in different political parties, I would feel compelled to respond in full measure, as an adversary would. But that is no longer the case. We are now one family under the All Progressives Congress,” he said, adding that what the party needed in Delta State at this moment was not division but unity of purpose and direction.
He declared the 2023 governorship election a closed chapter, noting that the Supreme Court had delivered its final judgment and that relitigating the matter in the media or at public events served no constructive purpose for the party or the state. He said he had congratulated the governor on his victory at the time and did so again now, describing the governor’s 360,000 votes across 21 local government areas as a settled and respected electoral outcome.
Omo-Agege also spoke with evident pride about his own 2023 performance, noting that his campaign secured over 240,000 votes across four Delta Central local government areas. He expressed deep gratitude to all who supported him, pledging an even greater level of service and commitment to their wellbeing and aspirations.
Turning to the future, Omo-Agege said his singular mission since May 29, 2023, had been to strengthen the unity of the party in Delta State, and he pledged not to relent in that pursuit. He called on Governor Oborevwori, whom he acknowledged as the leader of the APC in the state, to join him in actively fostering healing, reconciliation, and inclusion within the party’s ranks and to silence every voice and action that sought to divide the organisation.
He reminded members of his personal commitment to President Bola Tinubu and Vice President Kashim Shettima to work with the governor to unify the party and deliver victory in 2027, describing that pledge as a solemn one he intended to honour by the grace of God.
In a direct message to his supporters, Omo-Agege urged them to maintain their dignity, avoid negativity, and canvass support for the party and its candidates with civility and respect. He asked them to take pride in the legislative legacy he built during his tenures in the 8th and 9th Senate, pointing to a catalogue of tangible achievements that he said demonstrated bold and transformative leadership on behalf of Delta Central and the Urhobo people.
Among the achievements he cited were his instrumental role in passing the legislation that conferred permanent legal status on the Federal University of Petroleum Resources in Effurun, his contributions to establishing the Federal Polytechnic in Orogun and driving the construction of that institution, his facilitation of the Federal University of Medical and Health Sciences in Kwale, his role in establishing the Oil and Gas Industrial Park in Delta State, and his contribution to the establishment and full construction of the Nigerian Defence Space School in the state.
“These are not claims. They are facts, part of our legacy of bold, transformative leadership,” he said, expressing confidence that with another mandate from the people of the Urhobo Nation and all of Delta Central in 2027, even more transformative work would be accomplished.
He closed with a call for the entire Delta APC to choose unity over division and victory over vendetta, insisting that unity within the party had to be more than rhetoric and had to become the genuine source of the organisation’s strength as it prepared for what he described as a critical electoral cycle.
