Delta North: Okobah Faults Okowa's Emergence, Lists Ned Nwoko Nwoko's Achievements | Morning Brief

Indiziert: 2026-05-22

[00:00:03]Ah, laws are meant to be tested. And we're still talking politics. As a matter of fact, Bukola, I'm aware that there is a case that has been instituted concerning other sections of the Electoral Act, including grounds of petition.

[00:00:16]Interesting days. I love this game.

[00:00:19]Let's bring it on.

[00:00:20]>> [laughter] >> But hey, let's talk about uh another part of the conversation, but still related to politics. And this has to do with what played out in Delta State yesterday. We had the honorable commissioner for uh rural works and information, uh Mr. Charles Aniogwu, joining us on the program to bring us up to speed with the issues around how the primaries for the central district threw up uh a Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, immediate past governor of the state, as the victor, which Ned Nwoko has disputed. Ned Nwoko is the incumbent senator representing Delta North Senatorial District. And to have a successful order conversation, we have Mr. Chris Okobah. He's a lawyer, businessman, I guess a politician, joining us on the program. Mr. Okobah, thank you for coming on the program.

[00:01:08]Thank you, Godfrey, for having me. Good morning. Good morning. I want to believe you take you took time to listen or paid attention to some of the things that Mr. Charles Aniogwu said yesterday. In fact, he said uh Senator Ned did not consult. It was Let me paraphrase now, working in silos.

[00:01:28]How could he have expected victory? Uh and he talked about a couple of things, including the fact that even him, who is a commissioner from that senatorial district, he wasn't consulted. How many people he challenged us to ask you and Senator Ned, sorry, to ask Senator Ned whether or not he knows the person who was who came from Abuja to even conduct that exercise. So, there were plethora of allegations uh as to his uh inability to canvass votes. So, the results were expected. How would you respond to some of these things that uh Mr. Anyogo said?

[00:02:00]That is, if you listened to it.

[00:02:05]Well, um I want to acknowledge the fact that Charles Anyogo is known for his propensity for false representation of facts.

[00:02:18]What he put up yesterday was a gross exaggeration of facts with intention to mislead the public.

[00:02:27]Ned Nwoko did absolute consultation with the members of the constituent, not with the bourgeois, just like Charles and his group normally do.

[00:02:40]Ned Nwoko consult with his constituent, with the grassroots, with those he represents, and they are in contact with him, just as he is in absolute contact with them.

[00:02:51]So, that is you know, what I can describe as gross exaggeration of facts.

[00:03:00]So, you say it's a gross exaggeration.

[00:03:02]So, let's go back to the numbers. I looked at the numbers when Senator Ned Nwoko emerged as a victor in the last election, which he's serving now his term.

[00:03:11]He scored about 98,000 votes against the Labour Party guy who scored about 80-something thousand votes. In these primaries, which we double down asking Mr. Charles Anyogo how the number came about.

[00:03:25]If I can correct me if I'm wrong, Senator Ukwu scored about 113,000, and then Ned Nwoko scored about a No, not 100, about 6,000 or so.

[00:03:37]So, when you are disputing the numbers, what does Senator Ned Nwoko have as his own record of how many votes he secured in that primaries? How many votes did Senator Ukwu secure in that primaries? Because I'm sure he has agents. What counter record does he have?

[00:03:58]Are you talking about vote from a particular ward or vote from the total uh The The entire exercise. Number secured >> Yes, not as Does that >> Delta North Senator Okowa >> That is a factual you know, absurdity.

[00:04:19]You know, um you know, what I can describe as um procedural uh you know, falsehood. How can you say he scored 6,000?

[00:04:32]That's not possible.

[00:04:34]Ned Nwoko scored 135,000 votes. He beat Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa in a landslide.

[00:04:44]Not just he defeated him, he defeated him in a landslide. He scored about 135,000 votes.

[00:04:51]In my ward alone, ward two, he scored about 2,000 votes.

[00:04:57]Almost 90% of the voters queued up to vote for him.

[00:05:03]When the the the the members of the They They didn't even send members of the panel. They sent commissioners, executive assistant to the governor, uh senior special advisers to the governor.

[00:05:15]When these people got there, saw the huge crowd chanting Ned Nwoko's name, they entered their car AND DROVE AWAY. THEY NEVER COUNTED, THEY NEVER ACCREDITED, THEY NEVER did anything.

[00:05:29]Come on, Greg. You don't clap with one hand. So, BEFORE YOU DON'T CONDUCT ELECTION ALONE. Just Just before I let my colleague in, uh Let Let The number I have here is not even 6,000. The one reported from the Okowa camp is 2,612.

[00:05:46]While Senator Okowa scored 113,309.

[00:05:49]Those are what we have available from the senator. So, he said 135,000.

[00:05:58]This is just in primaries. Couldn't even get that number in in the main election. That is quite curious. Don't you think?

[00:06:06]That is facade theater of absurdity.

[00:06:11]Please.

[00:06:12]>> [laughter] >> How possible could that be? No, you're not getting You're not getting MY QUESTION. NO, HOLD ON, SIR. IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, SIR, you're not You're not getting my question. I just decided to put the facts right, and then I'm now asking you 98,000 votes is what took him to the Senate. 98,000.

[00:06:31]In the primaries of 2 days ago or Monday, he scored, according to you, 135,000 votes, way in excess. 113,000. No, that's Kokoa.

[00:06:45]He's talking about Ned. Oh, okay.

[00:06:46]135,000. That's in excess of what he scored for what took him to the Senate.

[00:06:53]So, I'm asking, how did that happen? Is this also part of the geometric number counting that we saw in this APC primaries that we've been seeing so far?

[00:07:03]Well, what we saw was um people came out in mass to vote for Senator Ned Nwoko.

[00:07:12]Maybe both PDP and APC people came out to vote, but they all queued up to vote.

[00:07:18]That's all I saw.

[00:07:20]I witnessed a huge turnout.

[00:07:24]But, to say that Ned Nwoko scored 3,000 votes or 6,000 votes is, you know, what I can describe as, you know, facade theater of absurdity.

[00:07:34]You know, that that is complete misrepresentation of facts and what happened.

[00:07:40]That is just the truth.

[00:07:42]Though, these people are known for, you know, the propensity to represent the fact. So, I I don't really mind about what they said here, but I just want to put the you know, facts straight. That's what they Charles Aniagwu came here to say was total misrepresentation of fact. Both the person of Ned Nwoko, the way he characterized him as a troublemaker, the way he characterized him as uh you know, isolationist, you know, trying to isolate himself from people. He left them and went to APC BECAUSE THEY WERE ANTAGONIZING HIM. THEY WERE FIGHTING HIM. They never wanted to work with him.

[00:08:21]Even the road leading from uh Onitsha to uh uh Obokou connecting Abuja, the governor REFUSED TO FIX IT BECAUSE HE BELIEVED THAT IF HE FIXED IT, THAT WOULD BE OF, YOU KNOW, POLITICAL ADVANTAGE TO NED.

[00:08:35]NED APPROACHED HIM SO MANY TIMES. EVEN IN MY PRESENCE, HE CALLED CHARLES ANIAGWU, ASKED HIM IF HE'S COMING HERE. I'M TELLING WE HAVE THE FULL RECORD OF THEIR CONVERSATION. HE SAID THAT THE GOVERNOR SAID HE SHOULDN'T FIX IT. TELL HIM TO COME HERE. WE WILL BRING THE FULL RECORD. THEY RECORDED NED CONVERSATION BETWEEN HIM AND SENATOR NED.

[00:08:56]SO, WHY ARE THEY LYING? WHY ARE THEY PUTTING UP THIS FALSEHOOD?

[00:09:01]EVEN OKOWA, WHEN HE WAS IN THE IN IN AS A GOVERNOR, THE HEALTH SYSTEM IN DELTA STATE HE'S A MEDICAL DOCTOR, BUT THE HEALTH SYSTEM IN DELTA STATE STATE, YOU KNOW, DEVELOPED INTO, YOU KNOW, PETRIFYING RETROGRADE.

[00:09:16]AND HE'S A MEDICAL DOCTOR. ALL HE DID WAS TO SET UP A NEW A DEPARTMENT OF EPIDEMIOLOGY SPACE, PUT THE DOCTOR, AND BE PUMPING MONEY IN THERE.

[00:09:25]THESE PEOPLE FLEECED THE STATE.

[00:09:28]HIMSELF AND THE CURRENT GOVERNOR WHO WAS THE SPEAKER, AND THEY BOTH WERE APPROVING MONEY FOR THEMSELVES.

[00:09:35]OKOWA SPENT THIS MONEY TO PUSH OUR PRESIDENT OUT TO MAKE SURE OUR PRESIDENT DOESN'T WIN ELECTION AND HE'S NOW GOING TO SENATE TO TO WORK WITH HIM. HOW IS HE GOING TO WORK WITH A MAN WE VOTED NOT TO BE PRESIDENT? IS HE GOING THERE TO TEACH HIM?

[00:09:49]SO, HOW IS HE GOING TO WORK WITH HIM?

[00:09:52]SO >> WE KNOW THESE PEOPLE, THEY ARE JUST CONFUSIONISTS. THEY ARE THEY ARE THEY ARE LIARS, BUNCH OF LIARS.

[00:09:57]>> SO, MR. OKOWA, although that is part of the conversation and we've had a gentleman >> Doctor Okowa Doctor Okowa DOCTOR OKOWA, PLEASE. ALL RIGHT, DOCTOR OKOWA.

[00:10:06]>> Doctor Okowa, we we have to determine whether or not, you know, um in line with the new mandate of the Ministry of Education who have charged charged us to only refer to those who uh you know, got their doctorate by academic rigor before we can go ahead and or refer to you as doctor. So, you're still a mister even if you're a doctor whether by honoris honorary doctorate or, you know, by academic rigor. So, both titles will suffice. And so that's part of the conversation and without losing sight of where we're headed now. Uh but we're going to leave some of the things that you're saying in the realm of allegation uh and not uh you know, just take it as a matter of >> have facts. We have facts. We have UNTIL THAT IS PROVEN, we'll leave it at the in the realm of allegation for the purpose of this conversation. Now, to the other allegations leveled against your own uh will I call him boss now Senator Ned Nwoko yesterday? I'd like you to speak to some of them. And Mr. Anyanwu did say yesterday without quoting him copiously uh that Senator Senator Ned Nwoko's footprints are evidently absent in Delta North, hence his loss at the primaries. He did say uh that uh Senator Ned Nwoko didn't do empowerment for his people, uh that he didn't even buy the cheapest goat for elders of um you know uh uh uh Delta North. So I'd like you to speak to some of these things and I'm indeed reading a report from 2024 where some elders in Oshimili local government accused him of lack of consultation and selective empowerment in Delta North. So if that is the case, why has your senator not left enviable footprints that would have given him a smooth sail in this election although it is being contested and we're waiting for the national parties outcome. So I'd like you to respond to that.

[00:12:07]Senator Nike Nwoko left a footprint that is unmatchable.

[00:12:15]The best senator ever produced by the people of Delta North. He's been a quintessential lawmaker.

[00:12:23]Without comparison.

[00:12:25]BY A MILE APART, HE'S BEEN THE BEST. HE HAS EMPOWERED THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE in Delta North. HE BUILT A UNIVERSITY WHERE 60% of the PEOPLE ATTEND ON SCHOLARSHIP.

[00:12:40]NO SCHOOL FEES. PORTHARCOURT UNIVERSITY.

[00:12:42]GO AND CHECK IT OUT. GO AND GOOGLE IT.

[00:12:46]HE EMPOWERED PEOPLE. HE EMPLOYED PEOPLE.

[00:12:48]HE BUILT THAT UNIVERSITY COULD HAVE BEEN BUILT IN ABUJA OR in Lagos or any other place BUT HE CHOSE TO BUILD IT IN HIS OWN COMMUNITY.

[00:12:56]MY OWN KING, MY OWN TRADITIONAL ruler who is MY BROTHER, HE GAVE HIS LAND FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO DEVELOP IN MY COMMUNITY TO BUILD. FREE OF CHARGE. HE DOESN'T CHARGE THEM MONEY.

[00:13:06]THE COMMISSIONER THE THE THE traditional ruler of Onicha Ugbo is His Majesty OBI CHUKWUMALIEZE. GO AND ASK PEOPLE.

[00:13:15]NOT THE ONE THEY ARE FIGHTING HIM FOR TRYING TO BUILD A UNIVERSITY IN THEIR COMMUNITY.

[00:13:21]LET'S TALK ABOUT EMPOWERMENT.

[00:13:24]HE HAS EMPOWERED MORE PEOPLE THAN OKOWA.

[00:13:26]WHEN OKOWA WAS IN THE SENATE, HOW MANY PEOPLE DID THEY EMPOWER?

[00:13:29]WHEN AS A GOVERNOR, WHAT DID HE DO FOR DELTA NORTH? WHAT DID HE DO FOR FOR ANIOMA NORTH?

[00:13:36]CHARLES ANUKU WAS TALKING THAT HE VISITED DELTA NORTH TO attend burials.

[00:13:41]OH, THOSE WHO DIED FROM FRUSTRATION OF HIS LEADERSHIP, HE ATTEND THEIR BURIAL TO CELEBRATE THEIR DEATH? IS THAT WHAT HE DOES? I SAW HIS REACTION YESTERDAY WHEN YOU WERE ASKING him about the rural electrification and those not having light.

[00:13:53]>> TALK TO US ABOUT NO CONCERN. TALK TO US ABOUT HIS EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM. PLEASE BE SPECIFIC ABOUT HIS empowerment program.

[00:14:02]Senator Ned.

[00:14:04]THEY SHOULDN'T COME HERE BECAUSE THEY NOT IN THEIR OWN WAY THAT THEY HAVE SAVED TOTALLY.

[00:14:10]PLEASE MR. OKOWA, PLEASE BE SPECIFIC about the empowerment programs that Senator Ned Nwoko has carried out >> That's what I'm telling you about how he has empowered more people than all the senators we've ever had in Delta STATE ALL PUT TOGETHER, INCLUDING OKOWA, WHO WAS THERE FOR 4 YEARS. HE NEVER EMPOWERED A SINGLE PERSON.

[00:14:31]>> PLEASE REMAIN WITH YOUR own principle.

[00:14:34]You can You can, you know, suspend the the the the commentary on uh Senator Okowa currently, BUT >> WITH HIM, BUT I HAVE TO ALSO ADDRESS WHAT THESE PEOPLE CAN SAY ABOUT HIM.

[00:14:43]>> BESIDES THE THE SPORTS university that you said he built, what other empowerment did he do specifically for the youths of Delta North?

[00:14:55]You see, Ned doesn't believe in giving people fishes. He believes in teaching them how to fish.

[00:15:02]HE SET UP PROGRAMS TO GIVE PEOPLE WAY OF LIFE, TO EMPOWER PEOPLE TO LIVE and live LONG AND HAVE A A PROCESS OF SURVIVAL. NOT FOR THEM JUST TO GIVE THEM GOODS.

[00:15:17]GIVE THEM UH OKADA. IS THAT THE WAY UH OKOWA EMPOWERS HIS CHILDREN? MR. OKOWA, MR. OKOWA, if you got to hear me, Mr. Okowa, Mr. Okowa, just hold on.

[00:15:29]Please, we'd like you to be consistent.

[00:15:32]You have a right of reply. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on.

[00:15:39]Just hold on, sir. Can you Can you just Can you just hold on? Can you just hold on?

[00:15:44]You need to calm down so that I because, you know, loud doesn't mean logic. If we keep shouting at each other, it's not going to solve a problem. They were here yesterday.

[00:15:54]And they posited a challenge on live TV of how being a senator for almost 3 years he hasn't really affected the lives of people. In fact, Mr. Anyogu clearly said not even a 3-months-old goat. I remember that analogy he gave.

[00:16:12]You have an opportunity on live television to say that is not correct.

[00:16:17]So, give us in terms of Can you Can you Can you Can you Can you just hold on, please?

[00:16:23]I'm giving you AN OPPORTUNITY TO YOU KEEP TALKING OVER ME. MR. MR. OKOWA, MR. MR. OKOWA, MR. OKOWA, I'm trying to help you here. So, please calm down.

[00:16:36]Please calm down. I'm saying we're asking in specifics.

[00:16:41]Tell us if you say he's not even doing the Okada and all of these things he does. Walk us through like five major landmark things he did, including bills that has impacted the people of Delta North. Can you do that?

[00:16:57]He has sponsored bills for more schools to be set up in Delta state. He has built a university. He has sponsored bills to support widows.

[00:17:13]He has sponsored bills to support orphans. He's paying school fees for over 5,000 orphans orphan children in Delta North specifically.

[00:17:26]Is that not empowerment?

[00:17:28]He's building A FUTURE FOR THEM.

[00:17:31]SO, IF YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT GIVING GOLD, BUYING GOLD AND GIVING TO SOMEBODY, HOW MUCH DOES HE SPEND on a child that he's paying school fees for?

[00:17:40]For most of them in private university.

[00:17:43]GO TO VERITAS UNIVERSITY AND SEE HOW MANY KIDS he spends school fees for. Go to Veritas University here in Abuja AND ASK.

[00:17:53]YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT ONE GOLD. HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE OKOWA PAID SCHOOL FEES FOR?

[00:17:58]YOU'RE GIVING GOLD TO PEOPLE. YOU'RE GIVING OKADA TO PEOPLE and you call that empowerment. WE'RE TALKING OF BUILDING A BRIDGE.

[00:18:09]AND THAT IS WHAT NED NWOKO HAS DONE. All right, let's let's let's look forward.

[00:18:12]>> DONE IT DISTINCTIVELY. LET'S LOOK forward now. Now, all of we can argue all of this on live television, but the APC has a decision to make on who represents them for Delta North Senatorial District. The Ned Nwoko has his case to say, "I scored 135,000 votes as against whatever it is that you said Okowa scored." Okowa has said I scored 113,000 votes as against Ned's 2,000 votes.

[00:18:36]What is the way forward? What are you guys doing now? Because I'm sure pretty soon we're going to see lists of successful candidates that have been nominated by the party.

[00:18:51]Well, Ned Ned Nwoko is the legally should be the legally nomi- nominated person. He doesn't have any baggage, no criminal investigation, no criminal indictment you know pending over him. That's number one. Number two is that he's got more votes than Dr. Ukowa.

[00:19:14]What they are claiming was something they wrote in the state house. They brought the the the the electoral officials the the the all the people they brought to that to to supervise the election they kept them in the state house and send their executive assistant and their and their commissioners to go and conduct election. They brought ballot papers and they were taking pictures and they were walking away. No no no record no accreditation and they are claiming they scored 115,000. They should be that they won.

[00:19:50]What which election did they win?

[00:19:52]That is in total contradiction with the fact on ground.

[00:19:56]So Ned is the winner of the election.

[00:20:01]So if you're saying that you know he is the winner of the election because we did ask Mr. Anyanwu yesterday and he said in fact one local government. I hope I'm recalling accurately has the a register of not nothing less than 150,000 you know members of the APC one particular local government area. So if you're saying that Senator Ned Nwoko was able to score 135,000 votes can you back that up and we ask this over and over again because of the videos we have seen of very curious counting moving from 200 to 1,000. I wonder if you can back that up especially if you know you say that no voting process was allowed. And I also also like you to speak to the way and manner in which the APC has you know conducted this primaries preventing numbers from being announced at the primary process and you know insisting that only the party can determine the outcome of the the process. So, how democratic is that in the first place?

[00:21:14]And doesn't it preclude the process encourage manipulation of the election results? Hence, you know, other contenders like you know, your principal crying foul over the process.

[00:21:28]That was a concerted effort prepared to chicken and deceive and defraud the electorate.

[00:21:38]That's exactly what they did.

[00:21:40]That was a charade. That was a sham. How can you conduct election and you don't tell people what they score? You don't count. You don't have credit. You don't take numbers. And you say you want to go and announce. And they go to government house and they are writing numbers.

[00:21:54]Don't forget that these same people you are talking about Dr. Okowa lost in his own unit the last election.

[00:22:04]Or have everything transformed in in just few days that they have forgotten what he did to them as a governor as the governor of Delta state? So, you're saying giving that kind of votes?

[00:22:14]>> Mr. Okowa, you're saying your party the APC conducted a sham of election. You're saying your party the APC manipulated the election. That's your party.

[00:22:23]>> Yes. AND THE NATIONAL THE NATIONAL CHAIRMAN WAS PART OF THIS FRAUD.

[00:22:28]THE NATIONAL CHAIRMAN WAS PART OF THIS FRAUD. THE NATIONAL CHAIRMAN BECAUSE HE HAS COMPROMISED. HE'S PART OF THIS CHICANERY THAT IS GOING ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. All right, Mr. Okowa. I WILL SAY IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN. AND IF I SEE HIM, I WILL TELL HIM IN HIS FACE THAT HE'S PART OF THIS CHICANERY THAT IS GOING ON.

[00:22:45]>> ALL RIGHT, MR. OKOWA, we're we're certainly we're totally out of time.

[00:22:48]We'll leave your strong words and allegation in the realm of allegations.

[00:22:53]Everybody you spoken about I'm sure has a right of reply.

[00:22:57]But let's maintain uh They can come out.

[00:22:58]THEY CAN COME OUT REPLY. BUT THEY LET THEM PUT UP FACTS. WE HAVE FACTS. WE VIDEOS, we have evidence to support We're totally out of time. So that so that uh we make sense of the situation. But I wish you guys the very best. Uh let's say that some of the allega- some of the things you said are still in the realm of allegations. So let's put out there.

[00:23:16]Chris Okotiebe is a lawyer, BUSINESSMAN, AUTHOR.

[00:23:20]OKAY. THANK YOU FOR COMING. THANK YOU FOR COMING ON the program. We know it's an ongoing conversation. Thank you. We appreciate We appreciate you.