THE senator representing Delta North in the National Assembly and a contestant in the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primary, Ned Nwoko, has vowed to challenge the outcome in court, insisting he won the election based on results and evidence gathered from the wards.
In an television interview, Nwoko, while rejecting the declaration of Okowa as winner of the primary, alleged that the results announced did not reflect the actual votes cast during the exercise.
He alleged that midway into the primary, party officials instructed that no results should be announced at the ward level, directing instead that they be collated and announced later at the national headquarters in Abuja.
Nwoko stated: “We have submitted them. Halfway through the- primary, we got a message on our phones that no results should be announced at the ward level that they should be collected and then announced later at the national in Abuja.
“And so, we thought we’d be law-abiding. Suddenly, we saw some news. We saw only that one video of one of the wards in Ika North East.”
Nwoko questioned the credibility of the figures announced from the ward, alleging discrepancies between the turnout shown in the video and the official result released, adding: “It was just one video, showing three people in a line, and then the rest that were probably not more than 500. That’s what I saw in the video.
“Although in the result, they said there were 5,000.”
He maintained that only one ward video had been made public and challenged party officials to release evidence from the remaining wards, noting: “The video that you saw, where Okowa was announced as the winner, was just one video from one ward out of 98 wards.
“Maybe they should show us other videos. They must show us the figures.”
Nwoko declared that he would reject any outcome upheld by the APC national leadership if it contradicted what he described as the genuine mandate of party members.
“I wouldn’t accept it, because I have a mandate. I have a mandate by the people. We will head towards litigation.”
He, however, pledged not to work against the party, expressing confidence that President Bola Tinubu would intervene in the matter.
“I’m not going to say I’m going to work against the party; I’m going to work for the party. But I can assure you of this: I’m sure that the President will intervene in this matter,” he said.
He disclosed that his camp had submitted results and video evidence from all 98 wards, insisting that he remained convinced of victory.
“I’m not worried, I’m not thinking about working against the party, and I wouldn’t do that because of the interest of the people that make up the party, the masses,” he added.
Nwokoi alleged that long-standing party members have been sidelined, following the defection of former Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members into the ruling party, stating: “The President knows what’s happening in Delta. He knows that the legacy APC members have been shoved aside by the new PDP guys that came into the party.
“He knows that they control the party. He knows that there are fundamental problems in Delta.
“We were assured that there would be some power-sharing formula. We were even 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 refused to concede defeat, saying while he did not expect to win every ward, he was confident he secured the majority votes in the senatorial primary.
“No, I would not concede, because I was there. If you have the evidence, I have the video. We won the primary. I couldn’t have won his ward. That would be foolhardy of me to think I would win his ward. But the majority? Of course, yes.”
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