Julius Oweh
An African proverb says that a fruit-bearing tree attracts stones. In politics, success often draws both praise and envy. In Delta State, one name consistently evokes admiration and unease, and that is Senator Ned Nwoko, representing Delta North in the National Assembly.
Since his election to the Senate in 2023, Senator Nwoko, an accomplished international lawyer and renowned philanthropist, has pursued an ambitious legislative agenda that underscores his commitment to the people of Anioma and Nigeria at large.
Legislative Agenda
It is on record that Ned Nwoko has the highest number of bills to his credit in the national assembly. He has sponsored bills on education, healthcare, water projects and electricity. Two of the most outstanding bills are the upgrade of the Federal College of Education Technical Asaba to the Federal University of Technology and creation of Anioma state.
His campaign against drug abuse is phenomenal. And so is his youth empowerment programme. If these successes are the sources of envy for politicians who cannot lace his shoes, to say the least, is very unfortunate.
He has touched the lives of the constituents in Asaba, Abbi, Aboh, Ogwashi Uku, Kwale, Ibusa, Agbor, Ilah, Igbodo and in fact all the gamut of Delta North since 2023.
Defection to APCÂ
It is on record that Ned Nwoko was the first leading politician in Delta State to defect to APC. The defection caused earthquake and shockwave throughout Delta State. The PDP was shattered as all the three senators were domesticated by the APC.
There were initial moves by the PDP to reclaim the mandate through court process. But the move failed woefully. Those who lambasted him started singing a new song like parrot. Today, the whole of Delta State PDP is in APC, thanks to the vision of Ned Nwoko.
The APC Delta North meeting
On June 14, Senator Nwoko hosted the Delta North APC senatorial meeting in his country home at Idumuje Ugboko. Thousands of APC stakeholders attended the meeting and it was a huge success.
The APC in Delta North passed a vote of confidence on the president, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori and Senator Ned Nwoko. The APC members also resolved that the three politicians were the party’s candidates for the 2027 elections.
Unwarranted Criticisms
Some politicians who felt too big to attend the meeting started using their political hounds to attack a meeting that was duly constituted. Such politicians are merely living in the past.
The first to fire the salvo was Senator Peter Nwaoboshi who not only queried the meeting but also picked holes with the dissolution of the Forum of APC Delta North local government and ward chairmen.
Standing in defence of the meeting and wards chairmen’s dissolution, a leading APC chieftain, Engr. Adam Emma Eboh argued that Nwaoboshi got it wrong. He said that the Delta North APC chairman, Ogbueshi Adizue Eluaka, was right in carrying out the actions and that he acted within the bounds of APC constitution.
Said Eboh: “The APC constitution does not recognise the bodies so proscribed, and that the party constitution recognised the authority of the senatorial chairman to maintain order, discipline and cohesion within the party.’
Eboh therefore advised Nwaoboshi to be a loyal party member that should obey constituted authorities.
Still done, those pulling the strings behind the scene against Senator Ned Nwoko goaded Dr. Festus Okubor to express disappointment over the Idumuje Ugboko meeting.
Okubor in a press interview faulted the meeting and that it didn’t follow due process.
Eboh countered that the views of Okubor were after thoughts and clear misrepresentation of facts and comments.
Eboh maintained that the meeting followed due process in line with APC constitutional provisions, adding that Okubor was alarmist, ill-informed and playing to the gallery.
Eboh wondered why Okubor as a newcomer failed to read the constitution and making sensitive public statements capable of causing disaffections.
The road to 2027
The political reality on the ground in Delta North APC is that Senator Ned Nwoko is the be all and end all. Some newcomers in APC may dispute that in public but in their closets marvel at the political mileage of the senator.
They are merely engaged in proxy war of media propaganda. With the success of Ned Nwoko, numerous bills and the push for Anioma state creation, it would be political alchemy to replace Ned Nwoko come 2027 in the senate. As it is now he is the man to beat in the 2027 general elections.
*Julius Oweh, The PondÂ
