Senator Ned Nwoko has vowed to challenge the outcome of the APC senatorial primary in Delta State, rejecting the declaration of former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as winner and insisting he secured the majority of votes. He says he will head to court but remains confident President Bola Tinubu will intervene.
Speaking in an interview with Arise TV, Nwoko alleged that the figures announced did not reflect the actual votes cast. He claimed midway through the primary, party officials instructed that results should not be announced at ward level but collated later in Abuja. He argued that only one video from Ika North East ward was made public, showing fewer than 500 people, while official results claimed 5,000 votes. He challenged party officials to release evidence from the remaining wards and declared he would reject any outcome upheld by the APC leadership if it contradicted what he described as the genuine mandate of party members.
Despite his grievances, Nwoko emphasized loyalty to the party, saying he would not work against it but was confident Tinubu would step in. He disclosed that his camp had submitted results and video evidence from all 98 wards, insisting he remained convinced of victory.
Prince Chinedu Munir Nwoko, popularly known as Ned Nwoko, is a lawyer, philanthropist, and politician born on December 21, 1960, in Idumuje-Ugboko, Delta State. He studied Law and History at the University of Keele in England and obtained an LLM in Maritime and Commercial Law from King’s College London. He was called to the English Bar at Lincoln’s Inn and built one of the largest black-owned law firms in the UK before returning to Nigeria in 1998.
Nwoko entered politics in 1999, winning election to the House of Representatives for Aniocha/Oshimili Federal Constituency. He played a key role in Nigeria’s Paris Club loan refund, helping recover billions of dollars for states. In 2023, he was elected senator representing Delta North. Beyond politics, he is known for humanitarian work, including a malaria eradication campaign that took him to Antarctica in 2020, making him the first black African to visit the continent for such a cause. He also founded Africa’s first sports university in his hometown.
On the internal politics of the APC in Delta State, Nwoko accused party leadership of sidelining long-standing members in favor of defectors from the PDP. He recalled assurances from former APC National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun about restructuring the state leadership, which he said were never implemented. He insisted he would not concede defeat, acknowledging he did not expect to win every ward but maintaining confidence that he secured the majority of votes in the primary.
