Lawmaker representing Delta North Senatorial District, Ned Nwoko has alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primary did not follow a fair process.
In an interview on Arise News, the senator insisted that he won the election based on results he claims to have gathered from wards across the district.
PrimeTimes Nigeria reports that the lawmaker said the primary was conducted in about 98 wards and that he has video recordings from different areas, which, according to him, show that he had wider support.
He stated that he plans to submit the materials to the party for review.
Nwoko also explained that midway through the process, participants were informed that ward-level results would not be announced. Instead, they were told that final results would come from the national leadership of the party. He said this change created confusion among those involved in the exercise.
He further claimed that what was eventually used to announce the winner came from a single ward he described as closely linked to former Delta State governor Ifeanyi Okowa.
He alleged that the result from that area was used to decide the outcome of the entire primary.
Nwoko also accused political actors in the state of working together to influence the process, saying the situation did not reflect the actual votes cast across the senatorial district.
He said: “The APC primaries for Delta North took place across 98 wards. I have ward-by-ward video evidence showing that I won the election, and I will submit it to the party.
“Halfway through the process, we received information that no results would be announced at the ward level. We were told the results would be announced at the national level. We assumed the party would follow due process. Instead, we were suddenly presented with a result from a single ward closely connected to the former governor, and that result was used as the metric for declaring the winner. The governor of Delta State is acting in cohort with Sen. Okowa.”