In July 2021, for example, a public notice concerning an APC Delta North meeting identified “Mrs Gloria Afiari” as Delta North Senatorial Women Leader and included her among officials representing the APC State Executive Committee.
By African Heritage Magazine Political Contributor
The internal battle for the soul of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in Delta State has taken another significant turn with Afiari Gloria, a politician with a documented leadership history in the All Progressives Congress (APC), being named as deputy governorship candidate on the ticket of Chief Great Ogboru.
The development is particularly significant because it comes amid an unresolved dispute over the legitimate ADC governorship candidature and party structure in Delta State.
A list released by the ADC national leadership on 4 September 2026 names Chief Great Ogboru as governorship candidate and Afiari Gloria as his running mate in Delta State. The pairing has subsequently been widely reported by national media.
Afiari’s political background makes the choice particularly noteworthy. Public records identify her as having served as Delta North Senatorial Women Leader of the APC, placing her within the party’s established leadership structure in Delta State.
In July 2021, for example, a public notice concerning an APC Delta North meeting identified “Mrs Gloria Afiari” as Delta North Senatorial Women Leader and included her among officials representing the APC State Executive Committee.
What remains unclear from the publicly available record is precisely when Afiari left the APC, when she joined the ADC, and the internal process through which she emerged as Ogboru’s running mate. Until those details are established, speculation about her current party status or the circumstances surrounding her selection should be treated cautiously.
The development comes against the backdrop of a much larger struggle within Delta ADC.
Competing groups have laid claim to the party’s governorship ticket. While the national leadership has recognised Ogboru, another ADC structure in Delta State maintains that Dr Emmanuel Usiwoghene Unuafe emerged from the process conducted under the state leadership.
The dispute has already moved beyond political rhetoric. Unuafe has reportedly issued a pre-action notice challenging Ogboru’s nomination and demanding recognition of his own candidature. The state leadership aligned with his position has also challenged the candidates’ list submitted to electoral authorities.
This makes the Ogboru-Afiari announcement much more than the unveiling of a governorship ticket. It potentially represents another stage in the struggle over who controls ADC in Delta State and which nomination process will ultimately survive political and legal scrutiny.
For Chief Ogboru’s camp, Afiari could offer strategic advantages. Her experience within Delta North politics and previous involvement in women’s mobilisation could provide access to established grassroots networks in a senatorial district that will be important in any statewide contest.
For ADC, however, there is another side to the calculation.
A party presenting itself to Nigerians as an alternative to the APC must manage the optics of elevating a former APC leadership figure directly onto one of its most important state tickets. Defection between political parties is common in Nigeria and previous APC membership does not, by itself, undermine a candidate’s legitimacy. But ADC will inevitably face questions about whether its expansion represents genuine political realignment or simply a transfer of established political actors from the parties it seeks to replace.
More immediately, the unresolved Delta dispute presents the greater danger.
A governorship campaign cannot effectively operate indefinitely with rival structures claiming legitimacy, competing candidates asserting mandates and litigation hanging over the ticket. Such a situation risks dividing members, confusing supporters and weakening grassroots mobilisation ahead of the 2027 elections.
Chief Ogboru brings considerable name recognition and decades of experience in Delta politics. Afiari potentially brings her own Delta North networks. But electoral strength will depend on whether those assets can be converted into a genuinely united ADC organisation.
The national leadership therefore faces an important test: reconcile the competing interests transparently or risk entering the 2027 Delta governorship election with a party divided against itself.
The emergence of the Ogboru-Afiari ticket may have settled the position of one faction and the national leadership for now. It has not necessarily settled the political and legal contest within Delta ADC.
For a party campaigning as a credible alternative, how it resolves that contradiction could ultimately prove as important as the candidates it puts on the ballot.
