The legal adviser to Senator Ned Nwoko, Chris Okobah, has questioned the eligibility of former Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, to participate in the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primary election for Delta North, citing unresolved corruption allegations.
Okobah made the remarks in Abuja while addressing journalists on the controversy surrounding the APC primary election held earlier in the week, where Okowa emerged as the party’s candidate.
According to the official results announced by the party, Okowa polled 113,309 votes to defeat Nwoko, who secured 2,612 votes in the contest.
However, the Nwoko camp has rejected the outcome, alleging irregularities and insisting that the process was flawed and did not accurately reflect the actual will of the delegates.
Beyond challenging the result, Okobah argued that Okowa should not have been allowed to contest the primary in the first place due to ongoing allegations of corruption against him.
He claimed that the party failed to properly consider the implications of such allegations before clearing the former governor for the race.
Okobah also reiterated that the primary election was neither free nor fair, alleging widespread manipulation, intimidation, vote-buying, and procedural irregularities during the exercise.
“The senatorial primary election held on the 18th of May 2026 cannot, by any honest standard, be described as free, fair, credible, or transparent,” he said.
He further alleged that the results announced by the APC were pre-determined before voting took place.
“The results they are parading were written before the election day,” he claimed.
Okobah maintained that the Nwoko camp has documentary and video evidence, including reports from polling agents across the 98 wards in Delta North Senatorial District, to support its claims of irregularities.
He disclosed that Senator Nwoko has formally approached the APC appeal committee, stressing that the decision to follow internal party procedures was deliberate to avoid violence or disorder.
“We have taken the appropriate step; we have written to the appeal panel. That is the appropriate way to go,” he said.
According to him, the appeal was filed within the required timeframe to avoid being struck out on technical grounds.
“The time was limited. If you don’t file early enough, it becomes defective by virtue of filing out of time,” he explained.
Okobah added that the next steps would depend on the outcome of the APC appeal process, noting that the group may proceed to court if dissatisfied with the party’s decision.
“You go through the party mechanism, and then when you’re not satisfied, you can go to court,” he said.
He warned that excluding Nwoko from the process or ignoring the concerns raised could deepen divisions within the APC in Delta North.
“Where you have a divided house, it’s not going to work,” he said.
Okobah also described Nwoko as a key political mobiliser in the district, warning that sidelining him could affect the party’s strength in future elections.
As of the time of filing this report, the APC appeal committee had not responded publicly to the allegations raised by the Nwoko camp.
