*Dafinone Floors Omo-Agege In Central
*Joel-Onowakpo Leads In South
*APC Headquarter Disowns ‘Uathorised’ Results
FORMER governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, defeated serving senator, Ned Nwoko, to pick the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial ticket in Delta North, while the senator representing Delta Central, Ede Dafinone, floored immediate past deputy senate president, Ovie Omo-Agege, for a return ticket in the party’s primaries on Monday, May 18.
Okowa humbled Nwoko by polling 113,309 votes to 2,612 votes, while Mariam Ali secured 40 votes in the contest using under Option A4 direct primary system across all the wards in the nine local government areas of district, which witnessed massive turnout by party members in peaceful and transparent manner.
Announcing the results for Delta North, the returning officer, Eugene Odo, said having satisfied all the requirements of the party, and having secured the highest number of valid votes cast in the primary, Okowa “is hereby declared the winner of the Delta North Senatorial District primary election.”
In Delta Central, Secretary of the APC National Assembly Primary Committee, Nusa Amagbor, said Dafinone polled an overwhelming 116,252 votes to defeat Omo-Agege, who secured 3,643 votes.
He said: “Based on the authenticated results before me, Senator Ede Dafinone scored a total of 116,252 votes, his opponent scored a total of 3,643 votes.
“Having satisfied all the requirements of our great party and having secured the highest number of valid votes cast in this primary, Senator Ede Dafinone is hereby declared the winner of the Delta Central Senatorial District primary election.”
In Delta South, incumbent senator, Joel-Onowakpo Thomas, was leading in six out of the eight local government areas in the district at press time, while the official result was being awaited.
Meanwhile, the national secretariat of the party has distanced itself from what it described as “unauthorised” announcements of senatorial direct primary results circulating across several states.
The Office of the National Chairman, in a statement on Monday, signed by Chief of Staff to the National Chairman, Albukalreem Bala Kwali, said the announcements contravened the directive of the National Working Committee (NWC) mandating that no senatorial primary results should be declared until they are formally reviewed, verified and approved by the committee.
The party, therefore, urged its members and the public to disregard any results currently being circulated, insisting such announcements do not represent its official position or decision.
The statement stressed that the party remained committed to conducting a free, fair and credible electoral process, assuring stakeholders that authentic results would be officially communicated after the completion of the entire exercise.
