The Director of the Abuja School of Social and Political Thought, Sam Amadi, has described the exit of former Deputy Senate President, Ovie Omo-Agege, from the All Progressives Congress, APC, as a big loss to the party.

Amadi made this remark on Thursday during a live appearance in an interview on Arise Television’s ‘Morning Show’.

He was reacting to the resignation of a Omo-Agege from the ruling party.

DAILY POST recalls that the ex-Deputy Senate President on Wednesday dumped the ruling party a few days after losing the Delta Central APC Senate primary.

Airing his opinion, Amadi said, “I think if Omo-Agege goes to any of the parties, he will definitely win the nomination because he’s a very strong politician.

“This represents a significant loss for the APC. The ruling party in Delta State has suffered a setback.

“He is likely to emerge as a strong opposition force against the APC because, before 2023, he had built a strong political network as Deputy Senate President.”

Prof. Femi Otubanjo, Director of Research, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs says he is surprised the former governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi, is vying for the number one seat in the country.

Speaking during an interview on the Arise News TV morning show, Otubanjo said he is surprised because the African Democratic Congress, ADC chieftain does not have what it takes for the presidential race.

“I’m surprised that Amaechi is struggling to be president. The problem is that Nigerians take politics as incantation, when you say something repeatedly, you feel you can do it”, he said.

According to him, “Amaechi should not have bothered himself” to contest the ADC primary election with former vice president, Atiku Abubakar.

Otubanjo also expressed pessimism about, Atiku garnering reasonable votes from Southern Nigeria in 2027, stating that the ADC has no prominent members in the region.

“It was as if Amaechi was not in the primary. Right now Atiku has no leg in the South.

“No prominent ADC member is from the South except Amaechi but Amaechi is not an asset”, he added.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbass, has been asked to produce records of proceedings in the Green Chamber to show that a letter announcing Kingsley Chinda’s defection to the All Progressives Congress, APC, and resignation as Minority Leader, was read on the floor of the House. 

The request was made by the Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, who recently filed a lawsuit asking an Abuja Federal High Court to stop the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, from recognising Chinda as a governorship candidate of the APC.

Chinda, an ally of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, minister, Nyesom Wike, emerged the governorship candidate of the APC in the May 21, 2026, primary election, following the last-minute withdrawal of other contestants – incumbent Governor Siminalayi Fubara, Tonye Cole and Alabo Dakorinama George-Kelly.

However, the Incorporated Trustees of the Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners, whose members include indigenes of Chinda’s Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency of Rivers State, approached an Abuja Federal High Court seeking to stop him from taking part in the 2027 poll.

The plaintiff argued that the lawmaker’s defection was inconsistent with the provisions of Section 68 (1) (g) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, and pronouncements of the Supreme Court of Nigeria on the defection of legislators.

To back up the claim that Chinda’s defection did not follow due process, the plaintiff has requested the Speaker of the House of Representatives to produce evidence that a letter notifying the House of the development was read on the floor during plenary. 

The request was made via a letter, dated May 26, 2027, signed by Jesse Williams Amuga, Esq., Administrative Secretary,

Association of Legislative Drafting and Advocacy Practitioners.

The letter read: “Request brought pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 2011: Request for the Hansard and Votes of Proceedings and Order Paper of each day of plenary sessions of the House of Representatives, National Assembly, during the month of March and April, 2026, or any other date to ascertain whether the records can confirm the date on which the Rt. Hon. Speaker or any other presiding officer of the House of Representatives read the official letter of resignation of Hon. Kingsley Ogundu Chinda to confirm cessation of his membership of the PDP and also to confirm his resignation as the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, National Assembly.

“We write on behalf of some of the 500,000 registered constituents of Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency, currently represented by Hon. Kingsley Ogundu Chinda.

“We write to request a formal letter of response to the above-named subject-matter. 

“This letter that we are requesting is a condition precedent under Section 68 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 which we seek to tender as Exhibit in a lawsuit.

“We, as lawyers representing the constituents, previously wrote a letter expressing the intentions of the said constituents. A copy of the said letter dated October 2025, to the said legislator, is enclosed/attached.”

The letter was copied to the Deputy Speaker, as well as the Clerk of the House of Representatives.

Following the lawsuit filed against Chinda’s candidacy in the 2027 election, a group, the Centre for Constitutional Governance and Electoral Integrity, CCGEI, had, in a statement, declared that the Rivers lawmaker had already resigned as Minority Leader of the House of Representatives before participating in the APC governorship process and had not taken part in any PDP-related activities since then.