Statement On The False Report That The Supreme Court Has Removed Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei As NDC Candidate For Delta North.

The media and legal team of Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei reject, in full, the report published by The Pond News under the headline “Delta North senatorial race: Court knocks out Ochei.” The report is false.

The Supreme Court of Nigeria did not remove Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei as the candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress for the Delta North Senatorial District, and it did not declare him unqualified to contest.

The judgment of 24 September 2026 was delivered in a separate matter, instituted by a different entity, on the validity of Sections 77(5), 77(6), 77(7) and 84(2) of the Electoral Act 2026. Rt. Hon. Ochei was not a party to that case. The Court made no order against him, against his nomination, or against the Delta North primary of the NDC. Any publication that converts a general ruling on the Electoral Act into a personal disqualification is a fabrication.

The facts of his nomination are on record. Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei defected to the NDC on the 8th Of May, 2026 and was granted a waiver by the party on 28 May 2026, authorising him to contest the Delta North senatorial primary.

The primary was monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission. The result was in his favour. He remains the validly nominated candidate of the NDC.

Earlier statements by this office have already said so, and have already disclaimed the claim that the Supreme Court removed him.

Those clarifications have been ignored.What is now in circulation is not an error of reading. It is propaganda. It is being pushed to deceive unsuspecting voters in Delta North, and it serves one interest: the All Progressives Congress and the camp of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, who would rather win the district by a false headline than on a programme.

Sections of the press have allowed themselves to be used for that purpose. We will not.We demand an immediate stop to this falsehood.

The Pond News, and every other platform repeating the claim that the Supreme Court has knocked out Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei, must retract and correct the report in not less than 72hours.

Should the publication persist, the candidate and the party will pursue strong legal consequences, including actions in defamation and injurious falsehood, against the publishers, the authors and any person who continues to circulate the lie as fact.

Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei is the NDC candidate for Delta North. That nomination stands.

*Rt. Hon. Victor Ochei Campaign Council*
*7 October 2026*