Senate race: Court sacks Uzodimma, orders APC to recognise Okorocha
The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma to stop presenting himself as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for the Imo West Senatorial District election scheduled for January 16, 2027.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu issued the order after ruling that Uzodimma did not win the APC senatorial primary conducted on May 18, 2026, and monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In his judgment, the judge held that evidence before the court showed that former Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha secured the majority of votes cast during the primary election.
The court consequently directed the APC to submit Okorocha’s name to INEC as its candidate for the Imo West Senatorial District seat in the 2027 general elections.
Okorocha had instituted a suit against INEC in August over the commission’s publication of Uzodimma’s name as the APC candidate for the senatorial district.
The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1854/2026, also listed Uzodimma and the APC as respondents. Okorocha’s counsel, O.J. Aboje, filed the originating summons at the Federal High Court in Abuja on August 13, 2026.
Okorocha served as governor of Imo State from 2011 to 2019 and represented the state in the Senate from 2019 to 2023.
He contested the APC senatorial ticket against Uzodimma in May, but the chairman and returning officer of the party’s 2026 National Assembly Primary Election Committee, Williams Kayode, declared the incumbent governor the winner with 230,464 votes.
Challenging the outcome, Okorocha alleged that he won the primary with 150,780 votes, while Uzodimma scored 102,158 votes.
The former governor asked the court to determine whether INEC was bound by the reports of its officials who monitored the APC primary conducted on May 18.
He also sought a determination of whether the commission acted unlawfully by publishing Uzodimma’s name as the winner of the primary, citing Section 183 of the 1999 Constitution.
Okorocha argued that INEC acted wrongly by recognising Uzodimma as the party’s candidate despite his claim that the governor did not win the primary election.
He urged the court to nullify the publication of Uzodimma’s name and direct INEC to recognise and publish him as the APC’s duly nominated candidate.
The former governor further sought an order restraining Uzodimma, the APC and anyone acting on their behalf from presenting the governor as the party’s candidate for the election.
In an affidavit attached to the suit, Amen Rochas, Okorocha’s son, alleged that Uzodimma purchased nomination forms for the senatorial ticket despite his tenure as governor extending beyond the inauguration of the 11th Senate in June 2027.
Uzodimma began his second term as governor in January 2024, with his tenure expected to end in January 2028.
The timing of the senatorial election and the inauguration of the next Senate has raised questions about whether Uzodimma would be required to resign as governor if elected to the Senate in 2027.
