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According to a video on Arise News, on Friday June 12, 2026, senatorial aspirant Nwabueze Oli alleged serious irregularities during the Nigerian Democratic Congress primaries held in Anambra Central senatorial district, claiming that delegates who stood behind his opponent, Senator Victor Umeh, were counted multiple times while thousands of his own supporters were ignored.
Oli, who appeared on the Arise News morning show to speak about the conduct of the NDC primaries in Anambra Central, said the turnout at the primary election venue was highly encouraging and that he arrived at the field confident of victory.
However, he described what he witnessed as deeply troubling and said the process fell short of basic electoral fairness.
In his words, Nwabueze Oli said, “Victor Umeh had his people, they were counting his people. From my understanding, there were about 400 people that stood behind Victor Umeh to me.
“So after they count, they have to recount again. The same people go back on the same line and they were counted like three or four times. But in that same field, I had more than five or six thousand people standing behind me,” he said.
Oli insisted that the manipulation was visible to everyone present at the venue and that the outcome of the exercise did not reflect the genuine will of the delegates.
He said he was both shocked and disappointed by what he witnessed, given that he had followed every required process laid down by the party before and during the primary.
He further stated that he has video evidence of what transpired during the election, though he noted that the quality of the footage made it difficult to air during the broadcast.
He called on members of the public to make independent inquiries from residents of Anambra state, saying the people on the ground are fully aware of who actually won the primary.
Oli also pointed out that the NDC, being only three months old, may have struggled with the pressure of organising a large-scale primary exercise at short notice, but maintained that the strain of the process did not justify what he described as deliberate manipulation in favour of his opponent.
