The Senator representing Delta Central, Ede Dafinone, on Thursday declared that the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Sapele Local Government Area has closed the chapter on internal divisions, insisting that the party is repositioning itself around strength, structure and unity ahead of future elections.
Dafinone spoke at the Sapele Sports Stadium during the APC LGA Congress held on February 20, 2026, where new local government executives emerged through what party leaders described as a consensus arrangement. The exercise was conducted by APC Returning Officer Blessing Akamugbe, with an official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) present.
In attendance were key stakeholders including Delta State Commissioner for Environment, Ejiro Jamani, former state party chairman Kingsley Esiso, Mr. Austin Ayemidejor, and Delta State House of Assembly member Perkins Umukoro, alongside ward leaders and grassroots mobilisers.
Francis Okpigben emerged as LGA Chairman, with Ikomi Gbubemi as Vice Chairman, Solomon Ofarn as Secretary, Omosuvie Henry as Assistant Secretary, Asagba Hero as Youth Leader and Elohor Augustina as Assistant Youth Leader, among other officers.
Addressing journalists after the congress, Dafinone framed the outcome as a strategic political consolidation.
“Well, first of all, I have to congratulate our new LGA chairman,” he said. “We are halfway through the process now. We have completed the ward congresses. We have completed the LGA congress. You are here, you will see that it was peaceful, without rancour. It was done by consensus.”
The senator stressed that the process was not about factional loyalty but about electoral value.
“What we have is a sharing of power according to the strongest contenders in every unit, in every ward, and in every LGA,” he explained. “So, the party people were asked to sit down, engage themselves in that particular unit — who is the strongest candidate? Forget APC or PDP. Who delivers the votes on election day? And that is the principle used to arrive at executives at every ward and at every LGA.”
According to him, the political message from Sapele is clear: performance and capacity to win elections now outweigh internal alignments.
“What that will mean is that the party will field the strongest candidates for election, with a party that is filled with experienced politicians who can deliver the party at all levels,” Dafinone said.
He also addressed lingering narratives of factional splits within the party, declaring that such arithmetic politics had been discarded.
“We are today one united party working for the All Progressives Congress to deliver. I am from the previous house of the White Congress,” he noted.
On complaints from aggrieved members, the senator acknowledged small misgiving from very few people but insisted that due diligence was carried out in arriving at decisions. "All the complaints that were brought to me, I have investigated every single one of them attended to.”
He suggested that some grievances were politically motivated.
“In some cases I found that those who were disgruntled were interested in their own personal positioning,” Dafinone stated. “In some cases I found that those that were complaining had stayed away from the process for a good 10 months and wished to be carried along in the dying minutes and were finding it difficult to not be carried along.”
However, he maintained that the leadership would not ignore genuine concerns. “So in those cases we are having difficulty accommodating all players. But where there are people that have been unfairly left behind, I have made a special effort to see that they are still positioned within the overall party system,” he said.
“We must carry everybody along. It must be one united party. And that is what we are all working toward.”
