Ifeanyi Okowa has declared his intention to run for the Delta North Senatorial seat in the 2027 general elections. The former Delta Governor alleged that Delta North leaders asked him to run for and win the seat in order to benefit the senatorial district and the state as a whole.
This decision reportedly strained Ifeanyi Okowa’s relationship with Ned Nwoko, the current Senator for Delta North.
Okowa, who supported Ned Nwoko’s candidacy for senator of Delta North in 2023, is now interested in his position. How did Ifeanyi Okowa’s once-rosy relationship with Ned Nwoko turn sour? How did they go from allies to adversaries? These concerns are justified, prompting WITHIN NIGERIA to examine the matter.
Okowa and Nwoko as allies?
Ifeanyi Okowa and Ned Nwoko were former allies. Ned Nwoko represented Aniocha/Oshimili in the House of Representatives from 1999 to 2003, and Ifeanyi Okowa was the Delta State Government’s secretary from 1999 to 2003. Okowa was elected Senator in 2011, but Nwoko was not in the National Assembly. Okowa was elected governor in 2015, and he completed his term in 2023.
During the 2023 Delta State senate campaign, Okowa, as governor and vice-presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), supported Ned Nwoko. He backed Nwoko’s campaign for the PDP ticket and helped him win the election as senator for Delta North.
The fallout?
In January 2025, Ned Nwoko formally left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to join the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Nwoko, who cited the crisis rocking the PDP’s leadership as the cause for his defection, also said that the PDP’s leaders, governor Oborevwori and previous governor Okowa, were opposed to the creation of Anioma state.
Nwoko, a staunch supporter of the development of Anioma state from the Delta North agenda, had a public disagreement with Okowa over the geopolitical zone. Okowa, a former Delta governor, insisted that it must be in the South-South. WITHIN NIGERIA also learned that Okowa was absent from Nwoko’s Anioma Stakeholders Summit in August 2025.
According to reliable sources, Ned Nwoko was disappointed by Ifeanyi Okowa’s switch from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to our sources, Okowa’s joining the APC has generated questions about who controls the Delta North party structure.
“Governor Obevorwori is in control of Delta State’s party organization. Okowa is one of his political godfathers. Tickets will only be distributed to applicants from their respective camps. “Ned Nwoko cannot drag issues with Okowa into APC and win,” a source told WITHIN NIGERIA.
The feud between Ifeanyi Okowa and Ned Nwoko erupted after the former met with certain Anioma elders, who purportedly asked him to run for the Delta North senatorial seat.
Okowa, speaking to Anioma/Delta North leaders, admitted that supporting Ned Nwoko for Senate in 2023 was a “mistake.”
He apologized to the Anioma people for helping to elect the district’s current senator.
He also accepted demands from Anioma leaders to seek the Delta North Senate seat in 2027.
“I accept your proposal to run for the Senate position, and we will run and win together. “I will not disappoint you,” he added.
