Politics
DESPITE DEFECTING FROM LP, REP LOSES APC PRIMARY IN DELTA
Former House of Representatives Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, may have won the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary for the Oshimili South Federal Constituency in Delta State, defeating incumbent lawmaker Ngozi Okolie to secure the party’s ticket ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The outcome unseats a sitting member of the House, an uncommon result in Nigerian party primaries where incumbents typically enjoy structural advantages in delegate mobilisation and party machinery.
Mr Elumelu, one of Delta State’s most recognisable political figures, had served as Minority Leader during his previous tenure in the House — a position that placed him at the centre of legislative opposition and gave him a national profile that stretched well beyond his constituency.
His return to the ballot signals his ambition to reclaim a seat in the federal legislature after a period outside the House.
Hon. Okolie, who had defected from the Labour Party (LP) on whose platform she was originally elected into the House, was unable to withstand the challenge from her more high-profile opponent despite the advantage of incumbency. The margin of the result and the delegate vote count had not been formally released by the party at the time of filing this report.
Oshimili South, which encompasses significant parts of Asaba, the Delta State capital, is a politically consequential constituency whose representative carries weight in both state and federal legislative calculations.
Mr Elumelu’s victory will now face the scrutiny of any formal objections or appeals from Hon. Okolie’s camp, a routine but significant step in APC primaries where results are frequently contested before the party’s appeals committee or the Federal High Court.
The APC’s Delta State chapter was yet to issue an official statement on the outcome.