As a Political Analyst watching Delta North’s politics with growing unease, one question keeps ringing: how can Senator Ifeanyi Okowa not give Ned Nwoko the space and time to finish harvesting the more than 30 bills he has sponsored, many of them now in their final stages?
Nwoko has not been a ceremonial senator. In roughly two to three years he has put forward a high volume of legislation—reports put the figure at 31 to 34 bills—covering youth entrepreneurship grants, malaria eradication and waste management, one-month rent limitation, diaspora voting, Anioma State creation, upgrades of polytechnics and colleges, self-defence regulations, professional indemnity, and a host of other reforms.
Several have advanced through readings; at least one major public-health measure has crossed the finish line. That is legislative work, not talk.
Yet the former governor, after years in the executive and earlier stints in the Senate, appears determined to reclaim the Delta North seat for 2027 through the back door.
The record of delivery that would justify displacing a productive incumbent is not obvious. What is obvious is the attraction of the office itself: the status, the trappings, the platform, and—critically—the practical insulation that comes with legislative immunity while questions about past stewardship linger.
Allegations of massive financial irregularities during Okowa’s governorship have been publicly aired; his camp has denied them and insisted the move to APC was strategic rather than protective.
Sceptics are entitled to remain unconvinced. When a politician who has already held high office returns to the Senate with limited fresh legislative evidence of transformative impact, the suspicion that personal security and perks outweigh public service is not unreasonable.
This is not about personality. It is about whether Delta North, and by extension Delta State, rewards output or political weight. Sideline a senator who has actually moved bills into advanced stages so that a former governor can park himself in the Red Chamber again, and you send a clear signal: performance is secondary to hierarchy and self-preservation.
APC should take note. Delta is not a safe deposit box. The party’s recent gains rest on realignment and the promise of better connection to the centre. That promise evaporates if the ticket looks like a retirement home for the politically connected rather than a platform for those still producing results.
Voters notice when active legislation is interrupted for the sake of immunity and comfort. If the party is not careful—if it prioritises the old order over demonstrable delivery—it will lose Delta State. Take this to the bank.
The people of Delta North deserve continuity of effort on the bills already in motion, not a reset driven by status and self-interest. Okowa has had his seasons in power. Let Nwoko finish the harvest.
However, the evidence is clear that he did not qualify to contest the primary, and that the election was highly rigged due to his alignment with the governor—his predecessor and godfather. Deltans are watching to see whether the court will overlook these glaring unconstitutionalities and illegalities. The world is watching, not only Deltans. This is a litmus test for Nigeria’s electoral judges.
Pamela O.
Political Analyst and Columnist
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