Senator Nwoko has initiated consultations with his constituents concerning his planned defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC).
This move has sparked considerable interest as the senator seeks to gauge the support and sentiments of his constituents before making any final decisions.
The senator’s engagement with the people highlights the importance of grassroots input in political decisions, especially when such a move could alter the balance of power in the region.
Speaking on Saturday January 18, 2025, on AriseTV News monitored by The Story, the Director of Communications, office of the Distinguished Senator, Hon. Gloria Okolugbo, said the senator would eventually defect to the president’s party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
“Well, I can basically speak to you about my principal to start with, because I had somebody from Arise television crew in Anambra State call me this evening to clarify, to find out whether my principal, Distinguished Senator Ned has defected to APC.
“What I can tell you is that today he held a consultative meeting with his constituents to inform them of his interest to defect from the People’s Democratic Party.
“And that has been a long conversation going on. There has been a lot of processes that he has gone through trying to speak to the internal democracies, the internal party structures to see that the issues that we have in Delta North.
“I’m first a Delta north politician. And so the issues that he’s supposed to represent his people concerning are addressed by the party.
“Unfortunately, one of the key reasons for which a legislator or a serving member can defect is factionalization.
“And you don’t have to see violence before you know that there’s factionalization in the party. But anyway, you can, in the news, it’s in the public domain, you know, it’s sad what’s happening.
“But there’s been the issue of poor internal democracy, which was something that was very strong in Delta State PDP. So it’s unfortunate the turn of events.
“And as we move ahead, it’s very, very important for us to strengthen the democratic institutions.
“Representational democracy is actually about ensuring that there’s a balance, Power and there’s transparency in governance and there’s open use of resources for the people to see accountable use of resources.
“It’s an unfortunate turn of events because it took a lot to see that Delta north particularly becomes a PDP, you know, PDP becomes the predominant party in Delta North. I served in Delta State, and pre my tenure, Delta North was never PDP.
“In fact, there was a very strong stalwart named Ogboru, who was the dominant person, who was clearing the entire Delta north because his maternal side was from Delta north
“So it took a lot of groundwork and a lot of service to the people before we got Delta north to become the predominant part of Delta State that delivered the last set of votes.
“Distinguished Senator Ned was on the field even after he had won his elections, promising the electorate that together they would deliver the dividends of democracy, because this is about representational democracy.
“This is about democratic institutions that deliver to the needs of the people, you know. So having promised all of that mandate as an opposition party, you know, in the land, it behoves PDP to realize at this junction that a lot rests on them to see that, youget what they deserve by way of representation and all of that.
“So if, unfortunately, the issues of political hijacking, factionalization of the party, and the issues of growing the party and developing even more internal democracy mechanisms is jettisoned on the altar of personal interests, unfortunately, you leave the representatives with no choice but to seek avenues to ensure that the promises they make are true because that’s what democracy is all about”.
Speaking further on the main reason for the defection, the Director of Communications said: “there are even twin issues that are germane that the distinguished senator had actually been discussing.
“First you know there are three ways in which you can handle these issues you first start internally because it’s an integral part of the party.
“And so there are twin issues there are major issues to development you find that this haphazard way of ensuring that you know people provide water all over the place, politicians come on board and they are digging boreholes around, they are distributing farm implements, they claim to be empowering the people with things that you know that as they are leaving that venue they are selling those equipments and so you are not making any deep impact in the people.
“We have seen this happen year in year out, so you buy tricycles, you buy machines for people, you buy sewing machines you know poverty has become endemic with our people that it’s sad but they see these things as an avenue to make fast money.
“There’s no ingrained ability to make the people realize that having your fishing implements is more important than just eating up your today and so that has been a major issue. So you find that low level tokenism happens within the system and that has been continuous.
“And somebody like Senator Ned Nwoko, he’s a well-traveled person, he’s an exposed person and he’s the elected official representing Delta North right now and having gone around promising that basic infrastructure like water, electricity, irrigation for farming and food security will happen and even after he was elected, he went around with the governor and said this is my party vote for my party we will deliver on the electoral promises.
“As far as we are concerned, we don’t have that happening. And it’s sad because Delta is North where I come from, we power generating plant that generates 980 megawatts and it’s not stepped down. Its even supplies Anambra State, a neighboring state.
“It also supplies FCT, the capital territory. But it is not stepped down for the people to have electricity.
“And when that plant was put in place, there was a grant, a permission by the head of state who commissioned it, President Olusegun Obasanjo, that 132 megawatts be stepped down as captured power for the people.
“It has been bogged down by all manner of politics. And the Distinguished Senator Ned says, I want to deliver this, at least in my time because when we have this, all the adjoining communities will have access to almost 24 hours electricity and it solves the entire problem.
“And he had come up with like three options for the government to take. PPP option, private recovery of funds over the years. And he has always had the same answer.
“And he said he had to take to recourse to say it in the public domain that he has spoken with the governor. And he has done his best, even at a caucus meeting, he raised the issue.
“Now, there are three approaches. You try to speak to an issue and then you are not given the opportunity. What do you say to your constituents?
“You say you cannot provide light because the governor says that he’s paying loans. But he is providing roads, he’s going to the electorate the same way you are going to go to the electorate. So he’s handling federal roads and they say it’s a federal project.
“And he says, I’m a legislator, I’m at the federal level. If we fund this, I can assist in recovering this money.
That is for light.
“And then we also have water. We have the Ogwashuku Dam. The water has been dammed by the federal government. Now, it’s just for the state government to reticulate this water and provide the water treatment plant.
“And you will have over 60 communities benefiting from this water and you will also have this water dammed and we will have agriculture, food security and feed the country. All of this is left undone”.
Asked whether Senator Nwoko would leave the party she said: “Senator Nwoko, he’s going to decamp. He had a consultative meeting with his team. Yes, he’s going to decamp”.
On the party Senator Nwoko is defecting to, she said: “He has announced that party, is joining the president’s party, yes. Because If you notice, there was a time he came out with an open letter telling the president to scrap humanitarian, whatever, so many suggestions.
“And every suggestion that he has taken, which was rebuffed by his party, was accepted by the president positively.
“So he has every reason to see that he can make good input for his people at the national level. So he would rather take that option.
“That will happen properly, what happened today, was just a consultation”, she added.
