By Wilson Okorugbo,
The jubilation in the camp of Senator Ovie Omo-Agege over his survival of INEC's hammer following the Supreme Court judgement of September 24, 2026, is understandable.
But it is also misplaced. To turn an administrative clearance into a political victory is to fundamentally misunderstand Delta Central politics.
INEC's final list published on October 11, 2026, has done one thing and one thing only: it has confirmed that Omo-Agege is the candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) for Delta Central.
It has not confirmed that he is the choice of Delta Central. There is a world of difference between being on the ballot and being accepted by the ballot owners.
For weeks, the apologists of the former Deputy President of the Senate have pushed a puerile narrative: that Senator Ede Dafinone's second term was hinged solely on Omo-Agege being disqualified.
Nothing could be more laughable and insulting to the intelligence of Urhobo voters. Dafinone never needed INEC to win; he needs Urhobo people, and Urhobo people are already with him.
The Supreme Court's restoration of Sections 77(5)-(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026 was meant to sanitize party democracy, not to become a tool for desperate permutations.
Yes, INEC National Commissioner Mohammed Haruna warned that non-compliance would lead to disqualification, and indeed big names like Isa Pantami, Ladi Adebutu and Aminu Gwarzo fell. Omo-Agege also survived. Kudos. But survival is not triumph.
The real contest for Delta Central in 2027 was never going to be decided in the boardroom of INEC or the chambers of the Supreme Court. It will be decided in the eight local government areas of Urhobo land, by market women, farmers, youths, teachers and elders who have watched two different models of representation and have made up their minds.
That is where the so-called "big blow" to Dafinone turns into a big blow to blackmail.
Let us be honest about what Delta Central experienced under Omo-Agege and what it is experiencing under Dafinone. Omo-Agege's tenure as Senator and Deputy Senate President was loud, imperial and concentrated.
Loud in press releases, imperial in structure, and concentrated in benefit. Development, if it came, was seen as a favour from a political emperor to his subjects.
Projects were cited as personal gifts, jobs were channelled through a narrow family and community prism, and the entire senatorial district was run like a private estate where loyalty to one man mattered more than service to all.
Dafinone, in less than three years, has introduced a different stewardship philosophy, one that his traducers mistake for silence. It is not silence; it is inclusive service. While others built a cult of personality, Dafinone is building a culture of inclusion.
Check the record without bias. Dafinone's approach has been to carry all blocs along - Uvwie, Okpe, Sapele, Ethiope East and West, Ughelli North and South, and Udu. No local government feels like an orphan.
No community feels that the Senator only remembers them when election is near. He does not believe that winning with the people and confining the gains to immediate family and home community is representation. For him, the mandate belongs to all Urhobos.
His detractors say he has no bill, no motion, no project. That is a lie from a tattered script. The people of Delta Central know that effective representation is not measured by how many times you shout on the floor of the Senate or how many abandoned classroom blocks you claim.
It is measured by how accessible you are, how fairly you distribute opportunities, how much you unite rather than divide, and how much peace you bring to the political space.
Dafinone has returned calm to Delta Central politics. He has not turned the Senate seat into a war chest for governorship vendetta. He has not turned every community event into a campaign for personal vengeance.
He has focused on his job, on quietly attracting interventions, on linking constituents to federal opportunities without making them kneel before him, on empowering without noise.
That is why the argument that Omo-Agege built Federal Polytechnic, Orogun and other projects is falling flat. Urhobo people are grateful for those projects, but Urhobo people also know that public office is not personal property.
You do not blackmail a people with what you did yesterday to justify why you must oppress them tomorrow. If performance was a lifetime immunity, no incumbent would ever lose.
Omo-Agege's camp is still campaigning on yesterday. Dafinone is campaigning on tomorrow. That is the difference.
The write-up celebrating INEC clearance as a "big blow to Dafinone" exposes the emptiness of Omo-Agege's 2027 message. What is the message? "I have survived INEC, therefore vote for me." That is not a manifesto. That is administrative relief.
Where is the convincing reason why Omo-Agege should return to the Senate in place of a hugely accepted Dafinone? Is it to bring back the politics of exclusion where only those from his immediate circle get jobs?
Is it to bring back the era where dissent was treated as betrayal? Is it to use Delta Central again as a launchpad for another governorship fight that will leave Urhobo more divided?
Delta Central electorates are not fools. They know that Omo-Agege has never lost a senatorial election since 2015 because he had never faced an incumbent with Dafinone's kind of grassroots acceptability.
2027 is different. This is not Dafinone of 2023 who was running to win a seat. This is Dafinone the incumbent who has earned trust.
So let Omo-Agege enjoy his INEC clearance. He deserves it after the legal scare. But he should not mistake clearance for acceptance. INEC has cleared him to contest. Only Urhobo can clear him to return.
And from all indications across the eight local governments, Urhobo's bet is settled: allow Dafinone consolidate on his stewardship of carrying everybody along in the 11th Assembly. That inclusive philosophy is what Delta Central needs, not a return to the era of a senator who won with all and shared with a few.
INEC has spoken on candidacy. Urhobo will speak on representation. And that will be the real big blow.
Wilson Okorugbo, A Political Analyst writes from Ughelli
