In what many have dubbed probably the most theatrical political twist of 2025, Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, and nearly all the management construction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) within the state have formally declared their intent to desert the celebration ship and defect to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Nevertheless it wasn’t simply the defection that shocked Nigerians—it was the metaphors.
“The style of the palm wine has modified,” declared Delta State Commissioner for Info, Charles Aniagwu, who tried to pour candy logic into what many view as a bitter political cocktail.
In response to Aniagwu, the PDP—as soon as the state’s classic brew—not hits the precise political notes. “We would have liked to regulate our ingesting sample,” he defined, likening Delta’s political realignment to switching from a bitter keg to a brand new faucet of progress and improvement. He claimed the transfer was pushed by a want to “cement improvement” and “protect the courtroom of legislation.”
For a celebration that has held sway in Delta State for over 20 years, the metaphor was greater than poetic—it was tragicomic.
“A Sinking Boat or a Sinking Gourd?”
Senator James Supervisor, a long-time PDP stalwart, put it extra bluntly: “We can not proceed to be in a sinking boat.” The assertion formally signaled that not simply the governor, however former governor Okowa, the speaker, celebration chairman, all native authorities chairmen, and different heavyweights had been abandoning the PDP en masse.
Curiously, it was the identical Governor Oborevwori who, simply months in the past, declared he had no motive to dump the PDP. In January, his media aides dismissed the rumoured defection as “baseless and concocted by jobless political hirelings.” By April, these “jobless hirelings” had turn out to be reluctant prophets.
From Poster Boy to Political Acrobat
Governor Oborevwori had been celebrated throughout the PDP as a “poster governor,” praised for his loyalty and efficiency. However the tides apparently turned as he started overtly courting the APC, going way back to December 2024 to attribute his success in governance to President Bola Tinubu’s management.
READ ALSO: Delta Gov, Deputy, Okowa Dump PDP for APC
“Assist me, help him,” he urged Deltans. The subtext was clear lengthy earlier than the official change—Delta was already on the APC’s path.
“Ingesting Party Change” or Energy Play?
The colorful metaphors masks a deeper political recalibration. Sources say Oborevwori’s transfer is much less about wine and extra about survival. The PDP’s inside wrangling, the APC’s rising federal dominance, and the attract of aligning with Tinubu’s presidency all play a task on this daring transfer.
Nonetheless, the timing and theatrics of the defection go away extra questions than solutions:
-Is that this a real shift in ideology or political opportunism?
-What turns into of PDP loyalists left behind within the “sinking boat”?
-And what occurs to voters who had been advised for years that the APC was the enemy of Delta’s progress?
What Deltans Are Saying
Reactions have been swift and blended. Whereas APC supporters rejoice what they name “strategic knowledge,” many PDP loyalists really feel betrayed. Some residents joked on social media that the palm wine analogy suits—“They drank all of it, and now they’re blaming the faucet.”
For now, all eyes are on Monday, when a proper defection ceremony is anticipated to be staged like a grand efficiency. However in a rustic the place politics is theatre and metaphors are coverage, Delta’s “wine change” could also be remembered much less for its impression and extra for its punchlines.
