Senator Ned Nwoko, representing Delta North Senatorial District, has cautioned those celebrating the purported victory of former Delta State Governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, in the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election, saying only the party’s national headquarters in Abuja can declare official results.
Nwoko, through his Media Director for the Anioma State Creation campaign, Chief Barr. Tonnie Oganah, said in a statement on Tuesday that announcing partial results amounted to spreading half-truths, which he described as “embellished lies capable of misleading the public.”
“The official and authentic results of the exercise which held on Monday can only be announced from the APC national headquarters in Abuja and signed by the chairman of the party, as there are no factions in the party,” Oganah said.
The senator, a frontline aspirant in the exercise, further warned that all candidates had their strongholds, making it premature and misleading for any camp to declare victory at this stage.
Nwoko also raised legal questions over Okowa’s eligibility, pointing out that valid party membership required clear evidence of resignation from a former political party, adding that belonging to two or more parties was an offence under both the Electoral Act and the APC constitution.
“No one is above the law,” he said.
Taking a swipe at what he called inducements by rival candidates, Nwoko said Anioma people were neither shortsighted nor willing to abandon their long-term interests for what he described as “mere crumbs.”
The senator reiterated that he had been among the first top politicians in Delta State to publicly declare support for President Bola Tinubu and the APC, and expressed confidence that the Anioma nation would vote APC in the January 2027 elections.
Nwoko said his Anioma State creation agenda, if actualised, would give the zone three senators and nine House of Representatives members, compared to the current one senator and three representatives.
“Anioma people don’t want to enter the Guinness Book of Records for negativity by not supporting Ned Nwoko and President Tinubu, both of whom are working to actualise the dream of empowerment for Nigerians generally,” he said.