The leadership tussle among All Progressives Congress (APC) stakeholders in Delta state has taken another dimension.
The leadership tussle has been between two APC chieftains, former Deputy Senate President Senator Ovie Omo-Agege and minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Olorogun Festus Keyamo, over the party leadership.
While Omo-Agege wants his leadership of the party in the state sustained, Keyamo believes as the highest political office holder in the state, he is the authentic leader of the party in the state.
Party sources told LEADERSHIP that the tussle between the party leaders is about who flies the party’s governorship ticket in 2027.
Recall that Omo-Agege had the upper hand in the battle for the party’s ticket in 2023.
However the rift between the party leaders returned to the fore following the release of reconciliation report. The bone of contention was one of the reasons the Olorogun O’tega Emerhor-led reconciliation committee was formed but instead of the expected reconciliation, its report has further divided the party.
The committee, in the report, suggested a proposal to establish a Leadership Council at all levels of the party structures.
However, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, who represented Delta North Senatorial District, attributed the party’s internal strife to pre-existing factions, saying, “This crisis predates some of us joining APC. There were two factions led by Omo-Agege and Barr Festus Keyamo.
“The Omo-Agege group prevailed in the last congress, but now the Keyamo faction, emboldened by a ministerial appointment, is trying to assert dominance. This is unacceptable,” he added.
Nwaoboshi frowned at the recommendation for Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, the APC’s 2023 governorship candidate, a former Deputy President of the Senate and the number six man, to co-chair the party’s leadership with a serving minister.
“This contravene Nigeria’s order of precedence, which places a senator above a minister.
As a former Deputy President of the Senate, Omo-Agege cannot co-chair with a minister.
“Such a move would undermine the integrity of the party’s hierarchy, considering the fact that Omo-Agege was a member of the National Executive Council (NEC) of the APC, as Deputy President of the Senate and currently a member of the Caucus.
Nwaoboshi further argued that it is improper to even place the minister above the two sitting APC senators in the party.
“We also have two sitting APC senators in the state. It is illogical that an appointee of the President, cleared by the Senate, would be superior to those who cleared him. If the President removes the minister from office tomorrow, what happens then? A senator, on the other hand, has a fixed four-year term and can only be removed through death or impeachment. It is unnecessary to create conflict between Senator Omo-Agege and a minister,” Nwaoboshi said.
