Fresh cracks have emerged within the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta North following the rejection of the party’s senatorial primary outcome by Senator Ned Nwoko, who alleged widespread irregularities, intimidation and manipulation during the exercise.
Speaking through his representative, Chris Okobah, at a press briefing in Abuja on Friday, Nwoko described the primary election as compromised and called on the national leadership of the APC to investigate the conduct of the poll and the eventual declaration of results.
The senator, who currently represents Delta North in the National Assembly, insisted that the exercise failed to meet basic democratic standards.
According to Okobah, the primary was marred by alleged vote buying, intimidation, violence and deliberate attempts to frustrate delegates and manipulate the process.
“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.
Okobah alleged that field records and reports from party agents indicated that Nwoko won overwhelmingly across the district, claiming the senator secured about 123,000 votes, while former Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, allegedly polled about 5,000 votes.
He said the claims were backed by video evidence, agents’ reports and ward-level records from the 98 wards in the senatorial district.
According to him, the alleged manipulation began even before election day, accusing unnamed political interests of controlling the electoral panel and appointing loyalists as returning officers.
“The panel members were allegedly kept in Government VIP houses and controlled by powerful interests. Many of the officials did not even appear at the venues of the primaries,” he alleged.
Okobah further claimed that there was no proper accreditation, transparent voting, counting or genuine collation of results during the exercise.
“In many places, what they called an election was nothing more than political fraud dressed in party colours. Results were allegedly written long before delegates arrived to vote,” he stated.
He also accused some party officials of allegedly inducing delegates with money and threatening members with suspension in a bid to influence the outcome of the primary.
Describing the announced result as “unacceptable and democratically worthless,” Okobah insisted that no fabricated outcome could override what he termed the genuine mandate of party delegates.
He warned against attempts by political actors to hijack democratic processes, stressing that democracy should not be controlled by “godfathers” or state interests.
“Democracy is not the private property of any governor. The people’s mandate cannot be stolen through intimidation, violence or manipulation,” he said.
Nwoko, however, vowed to continue challenging the outcome of the primary in defence of what he described as the will of the people.
