Political Earthquake: Ned Nwoko Opens New Front Against Okowa

The senator representing Delta North Senatorial District, Ned Nwoko, has challenged the outcome of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary in which he lost to former Delta State governor, Ifeanyi Okowa.

Findings by Punch revealed that Nwoko filed a petition against Okowa’s victory after the recently concluded APC primaries.

According to a party insider familiar with the petition, Nwoko is challenging the result on the grounds that Okowa allegedly did not resign from the Peoples Democratic Party before joining the APC.

Okowa joined the APC on April 23 alongside the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori.

Similarly, some aggrieved APC aspirants in Rivers State have reportedly challenged the emergence of Kingsley Chinda as the party’s governorship candidate.

Chinda, at the time he contested the primary, was the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency.

Apparently referring to the petition against Chinda, an APC official said the party register was enough proof of membership.

“Even in the Rivers case, the fact that a particular aspirant’s membership of the party is evidenced by his name on the register is sufficient, regardless of whether he is a minority leader or not,” the official said.

The party source added that the issue of party membership remained an internal affair of the APC.

The official said, “As far as the register of the APC is concerned, he’s a registered member of our party and he doesn’t need to announce the day he registered his membership after leaving the PDP.

“When Bukola Saraki resigned from the APC to rejoin the PDP, did he resign as Senate President? In any event, the issue of who is a member of a party is an internal matter. It is the party that will determine who its members are.”