Former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, has dragged his predecessor, and incumbent governor of the state, Hope Uzodinma before the Federal High Court in Abuja over the APC ticket to represent Imo West at the Senate come 2027.
Okorocha, who represented Imo West in the Senate between 2019 and 2023, is challenging the nomination ofGovernor Uzodimma as the party’s candidate.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1854/2026, was filed on August 13 for Okocha by a lawyer, O.J. Aboje, with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Uzodimma and the APC as defendants.
The former governor faulted INEC’s publication of Uzodimma’s name as the winner of the APC senatorial primary conducted in May.
Uzodimma was declared winner of the primary by Williams Kayode, chairman and returning officer of the 2026 Imo APC National Assembly Primary Election Committee, with 230,464 votes.
However, Okorocha asked the court to determine whether INEC is bound by reports submitted by its officials who monitored the primary held on May 18.
He is also challenging Uzodinma’s eligibility to contest the election while serving as governor, citing Section 183 of the 1999 Constitution, which bars a sitting governor from holding another executive office or paid employment.
Uzodinma began his second term as governor in January 2024 and will remain in office until January 2028. The 11th National Assembly is scheduled to be inaugurated in June 2027, when Uzodimma will still be in office.
But Uzodinma, according to officials of his government, will vacate office for the deputy governor to complete his second term.
The election into the 11th Senate will hold along with those of the House of Representatives and the President on January 16, 2027.
Okorocha is asking the court to declare INEC’s publication of Uzodimma’s name unconstitutional and void, arguing that the governor did not emerge as the valid winner of the APC primary.
He is further seeking an order directing INEC to recognise and publish his name as the APC’s duly nominated candidate for Imo West.
The former governor also wants the court to restrain the APC and anyone acting on their behalf from presenting the governor as the party’s candidate.
In an affidavit filed in support of the suit, Amen Rochas, Okorocha’s son, alleged that the APC conducted a direct primary on May 18 in which his father polled 150,780 votes against Uzodimma’s 102,158 votes.
The suit is therefore seeking a judicial determination of who was validly nominated by the APC to contest the senatorial election in 2027.
Uzodimma is the chairman of Progressives Governors’ Forum and chairman of the Renewed Hope campaign group for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s re-election.
The case has not been assigned.
(Ripples)
