Ovie Omo-Agege, the former Deputy Senate President, has resigned from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and is expected to announce his membership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
A source close to the former Delta Central senator confirmed the development to The Whistler on Wednesday, saying that Omo-Agege submitted his resignation on May 22 before announcing his departure.
“His APC is gone. He will soon announce NDC,” the source said.
“You can call it an earthquake because Omo-Agege was one of APC’s biggest political figures in Delta.
Supporters and loyalists of the former senator are expected to follow him to the NDC, the source said.
In his resignation letter to the APC chairman in Orogun Ward 2, Orogun, Ughelli North Local Government Area, Omo-Agege said his political objectives were no longer in line with the party.
“My political goals and those of my constituents are clearly better served outside the APC,” he wrote.
“I will not remain a sitting duck in a party where I cannot advance the interests of Delta Central, Delta State and Nigeria,” he added.
It was also reported that Omo-Agege’s resignation came 10 days after he lost the APC Delta Central senatorial primary to Senator Ede Dafinone.
Omo-Agege polled 3,643 votes in the primary held on May 17 while Dafinone scored 116,252 votes to clinch the party’s ticket for second term.
His defection to the NDC follows recent defections by former Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi and former Governor of Kano State Rabiu Kwankwaso from the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Both politicians joined the NDC early last month, saying Nigeria needs to be rescued from worsening insecurity and economic hardship.
Since then, the party has continued to draw interest from federal lawmakers and opposition figures across the country.
A chieftain of the NDC in Delta State, James Onosakponome, had recently called on Omo-Agege to join the party and contest the 2027 governorship election instead of returning to the Senate.
Onosakponome said it would be a political demotion for a former deputy senate president to return to the Senate.
The development is also coming on the heels of reports that a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja voided some portions of INEC’s 2027 election timetable, creating an opening for aggrieved aspirants who lost primaries to defect to other parties.
INEC has since appealed the ruling.
