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 in the 2027 elections.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu, in a judgment delivered on Thursday, held that the evidence before the court showed Uzodimma did not win the APC primary. The judge ruled that former Imo governor Rochas Okorocha secured the majority of votes cast and should be declared the winner of the primary.
The court consequently directed the APC to submit Okorocha’s name to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as its candidate for the Imo West senatorial election scheduled for 16 January 2027, and restrained Uzodimma from parading himself as the party’s nominee.
The dispute began after the APC primary held on 18 May 2026. Both Uzodimma and Okorocha contested the ticket.
INEC later published Uzodimma as the winner. Okorocha challenged the outcome in suit FHC/ABJ/CS/1854/2026, arguing that the reports of INEC officials who monitored the exercise showed he won.
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Conflicting figures were presented in court. Okorocha’s side claimed he scored 150,780 votes against Uzodimma’s 102,158.
The governor’s side maintained he won with 230,464 votes while Okorocha received only 1,098. Justice Egwuatu accepted the evidence that Okorocha was the valid winner.
The judgment is a setback to Uzodimma’s plan to return to the Senate after his second term as governor ends in 2028. Okorocha, who governed Imo from 2011 to 2019 and represented Imo West in the Senate from 2019 to 2023, has now been recognised by the court as the APC candidate.
The Cable
