2023 Delta State gubernatorial election

2023 Delta State gubernatorial election

18 March 2023
Registered3,221,697
 
Nominee Sheriff Oborevwori Ovie Omo-Agege Ken Pela
Party PDP APC LP
Running mate Monday John Onyeme Friday Osanebi Julie Nwabogo Umukoro
Popular vote 53.63% 35.76% 7.15%
Percentage 360,234 240,229 48,027

Omo-Agege:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%
Oborevwori:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Governor before election

Ifeanyi Okowa
PDP

Elected Governor

Sheriff Oborevwori
PDP

The 2023 Delta State gubernatorial election was held on 18 March 2023, to elect the Governor of Delta State, concurrent with elections to the Delta State House of Assembly as well as twenty-seven other gubernatorial elections and elections to all other state houses of assembly. The election — which was postponed from its original 11 March date — was held three weeks after the presidential election and National Assembly elections. Incumbent PDP Governor Ifeanyi Okowa was term-limited and could not seek re-election to a third term. Speaker of the House of Assembly Sheriff Oborevwori held the office for the PDP by a 18% margin over Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (APC).

Party primaries were scheduled for between 4 April and 9 June 2022 with the Peoples Democratic Party nominating Oborevwori on 25 May while the All Progressives Congress nominated Omo-Agege — the serving Senator for Delta Central — on 26 May. Although Oborevwori was initially disqualified by a Federal High Court on 7 July due to issues with his certificates, an Appeal Court overturned the ruling and reinstated Oborevwori on 29 August.

When collation completed on 20 March, INEC declared Oborevwori as the victor with official totals showing Oborevwori won about 360,000 votes (~54% of the vote) as runner-up Omo-Agege received around 240,000 votes (~36% of the vote) while LP nominee Ken Pela gained just over 48,000 votes (~7% of the vote). Omo-Agege rejected the results and filed legal challenges with the proceedings eventually reaching the Supreme Court, which affirmed Oborevwori's victory in January 2024.