APC Primaries: Nwoko Insists He Defeated Okowa

Senator representing Delta North, Ned Nwoko, has rejected the result of the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primary for the 2027 elections, alleging irregularities, electoral fraud and Intimidation of voters.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Friday, Chris Okobah, who stood in for Senator Nwoko said the incumbent Senator defeated the former Governor of the State, Ifeanyi Okowa, and asked the APC leadership to probe the process.

Okobah quoted Nwoko as saying he would not give up the fight to defend the will of the people.

He said the primary election “cannot, by any honest standard, be described as free, fair, credible, or transparent. What should have been a peaceful democratic exercise became a theatre of manipulation, intimidation, vote buying, violence, and deliberate obstruction of the people’s choice.”

He said from their records, Senator Ned Nwoko won overwhelmingly with 123,000 votes, while Ifeanyi Okowa reportedly secured only 5,000 votes, adding that their result was based on evidence from the field.

“There are 98 wards, and we have video evidence, agents’ reports, and ward-level records showing what truly happened across the entire senatorial district.

“The tragedy is that the manipulation did not begin on election day. It started earlier, when Senator Ned Nwoko was allegedly denied access to the electoral panel members who were kept in Government VIP houses. That was where the rigging began.

“The panel members were allegedly appointed and controlled by powerful state interests, while the returning officers were reportedly commissioners, advisers, assistants, or persons connected to the state government.

“Many of these so-called officials did not even come to the venues of the primaries. They did not expect our people to show up in such massive numbers. But when the delegates came out peacefully to vote, those who could not defeat the peoples will allegedly resorted to violence, disruption, and the scattering of delegates.”

Okobah said for the records,” there was no proper accreditation. There was no transparent voting. There was no honest counting. There was no genuine collation. In many places, what they called an election was nothing more than a political fraud dressed in party colours. Results were allegedly written the night before, long before the people arrived to exercise their democratic right.

“We also received reports of vote buying, intimidation of party members, threats of suspension, and open inducement of delegates. Money was allegedly shared to voters and party officials, while the genuine voice of the people was being suppressed.”

He insisted that the result now being circulated by the state government and its agents is therefore “unacceptable, morally defective, and democratically worthless. No manufactured result can stand against video evidence, agents’ reports, ward records, and the living testimony of the people.”

While alleging government interference, he said, “Democracy is not the private property of any governor. It is not the inheritance of political godfathers. It is not a weapon to be used against the people.”

According to him, Nwoko remained the choice of the people, insisting “the people’s mandate cannot be stolen by intimidation, violence, or state-sponsored manipulation.”