Ned Nwoko has expressed frustration over his defeat in the Delta North APC senatorial primary, revealing that he was allegedly assured of an automatic ticket before dumping his former party for the APC.
Former Delta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa was declared winner of the primary after polling 113,309 votes. Nwoko came second with 2,612 votes, while Maryam Ali reportedly scored 40 votes.
Reacting to the outcome, the senator rejected the result and accused party leaders of manipulating the process.
Speaking during an interview on Prime Time, Nwoko claimed that politicians who recently joined the APC were promised involvement in the party’s structure and government appointments by the party’s former national chairman.
“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. We were told, for example, that the state executive would be dissolved and there would be nominations to enable the old APC to get a foothold into the government, but that was never done.”
He further disclosed that one of the conditions given to him before joining the APC was the assurance of an automatic ticket for the senatorial race.
“I certainly was told before I came into the party that there would be automatic ticket for me, and why would I just leave like that without making sure that I have a secure ride?”
Nwoko also maintained that the results announced did not reflect what happened during the primary, insisting that he won in several wards across the district.
“We won in 98 wards. All that Ifeanyi Okowa did was just to throw evidence of one ward where there was an issue.”
