In power in the Paraíba city of Patos since the 1950s, whether through the paternal or maternal branches, the federal deputy’s family works to expand its power. The biggest thing in this process, of course, is becoming the future president of February 1st.
At the same time, another member of the clan is expected to debut in politics. Olívia Motta, Hugo’s sister and daughter of the mayor of Patos, Nabor Wanderley Filho, is appointed as the replacement for the former mayor and now state deputy Francisca Motta, their grandmother. They are all from .
Another part of the strategy is the attempt to place Nabor Wanderley on the majority government ticket in the 2026 state elections.
Olívia is a doctor like her brother – but, unlike him, she practices the profession – and is already talking about being a possible candidate for state deputy next year. According to the plan, in the Legislative Assembly of Paraíba, she would inherit the votes and seat of her grandmother Francisca who, at 83 years old, must retire from the elections.
A blog by Patos published that Ilanna (daughter of Francisca and mother of Hugo and Olívia) would also want the position, causing a family rift: as Ilanna is at odds with Nabor, from whom she separated litigiously, she would want to impose herself on her ex-husband in choosing, taking precedence over her daughter. Public demonstrations so far discredit this version.
“We are talking. In politics, family always agrees what will happen. I’m feeling very good as a deputy. But I also have Olivia, who is a woman, a doctor, accompanies me in my work, knows what I like her to do”, said Francisca in a recent interview. “She accompanied me in the same way that Hugo accompanied me. If necessary, and I decide to leave, I have a name that will really do justice to the women of Paraíba.”
Olívia said: “It’s a great honor to be able to replace deputy Francisca Motta, if that happens. I think it’s something that will happen naturally, I think it’s also natural for my name to be remembered. We are maturing [a ideia]”.
But the most ambitious move by the family group – and for now the most unpredictable – is the possibility of Nabor joining the majority ticket in the 2026 state elections. Paraíba media outlets announced a few days ago that he would be a candidate for the Senate, but there are other names strong in the match, in an intricate chess.
After two terms, governor João Azevedo (PSB), an ally of Motta Wanderley, must occupy one of the two candidacies for senator. Today, the tendency is for him to support vice-governor Lucas Ribeiro (PP), son of senator Daniella Ribeiro (PSD) and nephew of federal deputy and former minister Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP), as his replacement. .
There would be two vacancies left — that of vice-governor and another for the Senate —, and the Motta Wanderleys are pleading for Nabor to be considered for one of them. In this configuration, Hugo would run for a new term as federal deputy (the fifth in a row), considering that he would need it to seek reelection to the presidency of the Chamber in 2027.
Aguinaldo Ribeiro himself is a strong competitor for the group’s other senatorial vacancy, as is the president of the Legislative Assembly, Adriano Galdino, who also presides over the Republicans in the state.
When asked about the possibility, Nabor considered that nothing was defined, but gave way to the rumor. “People in public life must always be prepared for the challenges that God and the people indicate to us. We are available to our party for any call.”
The main city in the backlands of Paraíba, Patos, with 108 thousand inhabitants, has no relevant industry or agriculture, but is a regional hub for commerce and services (it houses campuses of two public universities, the federal one in Campina Grande and the state one in Paraíba, and several private ones) and a growing city. Its airport, which already received commercial flights, is being expanded to gain a passenger terminal and better conditions.
Hugo Motta’s first relative to take over as Mayor of Patos was his paternal grandfather, engineer Nabor Wanderley da Nóbrega, who commanded the city from 1955 to 1959, whose family is originally from São José de Espinharas, then a district of Patos, today emancipated as a municipality.
The Wanderley acquired power and prestige throughout the 20th century in the region — in Patos, the surname is on countless streets and public spaces —, but the clan’s political tradition is stronger through the Motta branch, whose greatest exponent was the former deputy federal Edivaldo Motta (1939-1992), husband of Francisca and father of Ilanna.
“Edivaldo Motta is the great political symbol, the great mentor, the greatest inspiration for all these characters to emerge”, says researcher Damião Lucena, author of books on the history of Patos.
Since he was a child, Hugo was taken to political meetings by his maternal grandparents. With Edivaldo’s early death, at the age of 53, Francisca takes over her husband’s electoral estate and prepares her grandson for the same job.
“Nabor Wanderley, Hugo Motta’s father, enters exactly when he marries Ilanna, Edivaldo’s only daughter [e Francisca] Motta. From then on, the political streak effectively begins to spread throughout the family”, reports Lucena. Francisca is also most responsible for launching Nabor into politics. Despite the loud separation between her daughter, Ilanna, and Nabor, she maintains with the ex-son-in-law a maternal relationship.
In his fourth term as mayor of Patos, Nabor has already been convicted of administrative improbity, fined by the Court of Auditors of Paraíba for irregular hiring of civil servants and is the target of proceedings at the Public Ministry and the TCE-PB.
Starting in 2015, joint operations by the Federal Public Ministry, the Federal Police and the CGU – called Inhumanity, Veiculation and Recidiva – to investigate suspected embezzlement of public funds and administrative improbity in cities in Paraíba affected several of Hugo Motta’s relatives.
Francisca, her grandmother, was removed from her position as mayor. Ilanna, her mother, was imprisoned for five days. The actions against them would end up being considered unfounded or dismissed by the courts. On the same occasion, Ilanna’s husband (and Hugo’s stepfather), Renê Caroca, was arrested and the then mayor of Emas, Segundo Madruga, who at the time was married to Olívia, was removed from office.
At 35 years old, Hugo Motta Wanderley is expected to be the youngest president in the history of the Chamber of Deputies. He is in his fourth consecutive term. In 2022, he was the most voted federal deputy in Paraíba, with 158 thousand votes. His biggest vote was in Patos (19.2 thousand votes).
When he was elected to the former, in 2010, Hugo had just turned 21, becoming the youngest parliamentarian in Congress.
