Delta North APC Primary: Ned Nwoko accuses party of betrayal after loss to Okowa

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Ned Nwoko has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of betrayal following his loss to former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa in the Delta North senatorial primary.

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Mr Nwoko, who represents Delta North Senatorial District, alleged that the APC reneged on an earlier promise to hand him an automatic ticket for the 2027 general election.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported in June 2025 that the APC denied the claims that it had promised to grant National Assembly members automatic tickets for the 2027 elections.

Mr Nwoko made the claims during an interview on ARISE Television on Monday, days after the 18 May primary election in which Mr Okowa defeated him by a wide margin.

Mr Okowa polled 113,309 votes against Mr Nwoko’s 2,612 votes in the exercise.

However, Mr Nwoko rejected the outcome, alleging that the primary was manipulated in favour of the former governor.

“We won the primary. All Ifeanyi Okowa did was to show evidence of just one ward where there was an issue,” Mr Nwoko said during the interview.

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“I was there. I have the evidence. I have the video. You cannot convince somebody who is innocent to say, I am guilty. It’s not possible. We won the primary in 98 wards.”

The senator also claimed that senior APC leaders had assured him of an automatic ticket before he defected from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC in February 2025.

“I certainly was told before I came into the party there would be an automatic ticket for me,” he said.

“Why would I just leave like that without making sure I have a secure ride?”

Mr Nwoko further alleged that former APC National Chairman Abdullahi Ganduje repeatedly assured him that he would emerge as the party’s candidate for the 2027 election.

According to him, the assurances formed part of negotiations that facilitated his defection and other politicians into the APC.

“I, myself and others were promised that there would be discussions on the new structure of the party, and we believed that there would be some power-sharing formula,” he said.

“We had meetings with leaders of the party and we were assured that there would be some sharing formula.”

Mr Nwoko also claimed that APC leaders promised to dissolve the party’s state executive committee to accommodate new entrants.

The senator suggested that the APC leadership under Nentawe Yilwatda had abandoned those agreements and sidelined older party members.

“Legacy APC members have been shoved aside, and the new guys that came in took over practically everything,” he said.

Mr Nwoko, a lawyer and businessman, was elected senator on the platform of the PDP in the 2023 general election before defecting to the APC earlier this year amid growing internal disputes within the opposition party in Delta.

READ ALSO: Ned Nwoko seeks review of APC Delta North Senatorial District primary election

His political rivalry with Mr Okowa has intensified in recent months following the former governor’s growing influence within the APC in Delta.

Mr Okowa served as Delta governor between 2015 and 2023 and was the PDP vice-presidential candidate in the 2023 election alongside former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

His movement into the APC caused a political realignment in Delta, a state long considered a PDP stronghold.

Neither the APC nor Mr Okowa had publicly responded to Mr Nwoko’s allegations as of the time of filing this report.