A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Ned
Nwoko, has vowed to challenge the outcome of the party’s senatorial primary in
court, insisting that he won the exercise based on results and evidence
allegedly gathered from the wards.
Disclosing his in an interview with Arise TV, Nwoko, who
rejected the declaration of former Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as winner
of the senatorial primary, alleged that the results announced did not reflect
the actual votes cast during the exercise.
According to him, 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.
“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,”
he said.
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.
“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 stated.
The senator maintained that only one ward video had been
made public and challenged party officials to release evidence from the
remaining wards.
“The video that you saw, where Ifeanyi 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,” he insisted.
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 said.
Despite his grievances, the senator said he would not 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.
Nwoko further disclosed that his camp had submitted results
and video evidence from all 98 wards, insisting that he remained convinced of
victory.
“We have submitted the results from the 98 wards, with the
videos. 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.
Speaking on the internal politics of the APC in Delta State,
the senator alleged that long-standing party members had been sidelined
following the defection of former PDP members into the ruling party.
“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,” Nwoko said.
He also claimed that previous assurances by former APC
National Chairman John Odigie-Oyegun on restructuring the party leadership in
the state were never implemented.
“We were assured that there would be some 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. But that was never done,” he alleged.
Insisting that he would not concede defeat, Nwoko maintained
that 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,” he said.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com