Former Deputy Senate President Ovie Omo-Agege appears to have escaped another hurdle in his bid for the Delta Central Senatorial seat in next year’s general election.
This followed the recent Supreme Court judgment on provisions of the Electoral Act 2026.
Omo-Agege’s camp has rejected suggestions that the judgment automatically disqualified him from the race, stressing that the Supreme Court did not make any order against him or pronounce him ineligible to contest. On September 24, the Supreme Court restored Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026, provisions that deal with political party membership registers and the nomination of candidates.
The apex court held that the provisions were not inconsistent with the Constitution and overturned the earlier Court of Appeal decision that had voided them.
The ruling had triggered fresh questions over the candidacies of politicians who changed political parties after participating in primaries under their former parties, including Omo-Agege, who left the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).
But reacting in a statement at the weekend, Omo-Agege’s Special Adviser on Strategy and Communications, Godwin Anaughe, said the Supreme Court ruling did not specifically affect his candidacy.
‘The distinction is straightforward: The Court ruled on the relevant provisions of the Electoral Act; it did not issue a candidate-specific ruling against Omo-Agege,’ the statement said.
It said Omo-Agege remained a duly registered member of the NDC, adding that his name was contained in the party’s membership register submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before May 10, 2026.
He also said Omo-Agege’s name appeared on INEC’s published final list of candidates.
Anaughe took a swipe at what he called premature celebrations by supporters of Senator Ede Dafinone, the APC candidate for Delta Central, who he said were already congratulating their candidate as though the judgment had automatically cleared the way for him.
‘The celebration by supporters of Senator Ede Dafinone, who are already congratulating their candidate as though the Supreme Court had cleared his path to the Senate, is therefore misplaced,’ he said.
The statement described claims that the judgment had knocked Omo-Agege out of the race as ‘political propaganda, not a statement of what the Court decided’.
Anaughe challenged Dafinone to face the former Deputy Senate President in the political field rather than rely on the interpretations of the court judgment.
He added: ‘The people of Delta Central will make their choice at the appropriate time. Until then, political celebrations cannot replace the contest.’