“APC Reneged On Automatic Senatorial Ticket For Me, I Was Deceived” – Ned Nwoko

By Ayodele Oni 

Still meditating on his defeat at the All Progressives Congress, (APC) Delta North senatorial primary election, Ned Nwoko, has accused the ruling party of betrayal, claiming APC reneged on a promise to give him the party ticket.

Former Governor Ifeanyi Okowa polled 113,309 votes to defeat Mr Nwoko who had only 2,612 votes in the party primaries on May 18.

This is just as the Senior Special Adviser to the APC National Chairman on Local Government Affairs Norbert Sochukwudima questioned how Nwoko scored up to 2000 votes in the election.

But Mr Nwoko, 65, claimed that the May 18 election was rigged in favour of Mr Okowa, asserting he had evidence to prove he was the rightful winner of the polls. He vowed to pursue justice and a review of the exercise.

“I certainly was told before I came into the party there would be an automatic ticket for me,” the embattled senator said on ARISE TV.

“Why would I just leave like that without making sure I have a secure ride?”

The senator implied he did not expect to lose the ticket having obtained repeated assurances from former APC chair Abdullahi Ganduje, who allegedly promised to make him the party candidate at the 2027 general elections.

He noted that the “automatic ticket” was among entreaties offered by the APC to woo him and facilitate his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)—the platform for his 2023 election. He dumped the PDP in February 2025.

“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,” Mr Nwoko said added.

“We had meetings with leaders of the party and we were assured that there would be some sharing formula, power-sharing formula. 

“We were even told, for example, that the state EXCO would be dissolved and that there would be nominations to enable the old APC to get a foothold into the government.”

Mr Nwoko suggested that the APC under Nentawe Yilwatda chairmanship has broken its promises and sidelined legacy members, admitting that “legacy APC members have been shoved aside, and the new guys that came in took over practically everything”.

Mr Nwoko insisted he won the majority of 98 wards in his district. “We won the primary. All Ifeanyi Okowa did was to show evidence of just one ward where there was an issue,” he claimed. 

“I was there. I have the evidence. I have the video. You cannot convince somebody who is innocent to say, I am guilty. It’s not possible. 

“We won the primary in 98 wards. No, I couldn’t have won his ward. It would be a foolhardy of me to think I would win his ward.”

Also speaking during an interview on Arise TV, Sochukwudima said he did not expect Ned Nwoko to secure more than 2,000 votes in the election because, according to him, the majority of the party structure and influential stakeholders were fully behind Okowa.

“I was even surprised that Nwoko could get up to 2,000 plus votes in the election,” Sochukwudima stated during the interview.

He went on to explain that several layers of the party leadership reportedly supported Okowa ahead of the primary contest.

According to him, the party’s internal structure strongly favored the former Delta State governor.