Delta North Senator Ned Nwoko has declared that President Bola Tinubu is fully aware of the internal tensions fracturing the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State, and that he expects presidential intervention to resolve a disputed senatorial primary election that he says was manipulated against him.
Nwoko made the disclosure in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Tuesday, following the APC senatorial primary for Delta North, in which former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa was announced winner.
Nwoko rejected the outcome, citing video evidence from polling wards and alleging that the process was compromised by the state government from the outset.
He said, “The process was manipulated from day one . . . . It’s something that they conspired to produce results for what they saw, or what they produced.”
The senator said that, midway through the exercise, party members received instructions on their phones that ward-level results should not be announced locally but rather compiled and declared at the national party secretariat in Abuja.
He said they complied, only to be confronted with a declaration based on footage from a single ward out of 98. That ward, he noted, is adjacent to the governor’s home village.
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He insisted, “I want you to understand something. The video that you saw, where Ifeanyi Okowa was announced as the winner — just one video from one ward out of 98 wards. They must show us the figures.”
Ned Nwoko said he has submitted results and videos from all 98 wards to the national party and insisted that the evidence supports his victory. He acknowledged losing some wards (including Okowa’s) but maintained he secured the majority overall. He dismissed the irregularities as limited to roughly 10 wards, describing them as insufficient to alter the overall outcome.
“I have a mandate. I have a mandate by the people,” he declared, ruling out any concession.
On the broader state of APC in Delta, Nwoko alleged that original party members have been systematically sidelined since the mass defection of PDP loyalists into the APC. He said assurances of power-sharing from former party chairman Chief John Oyegun were never honoured.
Ned Nwoko said, “The President knows what’s happening in Delta. He knows that the legacy APC members have been shoved aside by the new PDP guys that came into the party. He knows that they control the party. He knows that there are fundamental problems in Delta.”
He said promises of dissolving the state executive committee and incorporating legacy APC members into governance structures were made in meetings with party leaders but never implemented.
In all of these, Ned Nwoko said he would not work against the APC, stating that his loyalty to the party’s membership base remains firm. He expressed confidence that the President would step in.
He said, “I’m not going to say I’m going to work against the party; I’m going to work for the party. But I can assure you of this: I’m sure that the President will intervene in this matter.”
