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 former Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha won the APC senatorial primary conducted on May 18, 2026.
In his judgment, the court held that the evidence before it showed that Okorocha secured the majority of votes cast during the primary, which was monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The court consequently directed the APC to submit Okorocha’s name to INEC as its duly nominated candidate for the Imo West Senatorial District seat in the 2027 general elections.
The ruling followed a suit instituted by Okorocha against INEC over the commission’s recognition and publication of Uzodimma’s name as the party’s candidate. The governor and the APC were also listed as defendants in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1854/2026.
According to Politics Nigeria, Okorocha’s counsel, O.J. Aboje, filed the originating summons on August 13, 2026, challenging the outcome of the party’s primary and INEC’s decision to recognise Uzodimma.
During the primary, Williams Kayode, chairman and returning officer of the APC National Assembly Primary Election Committee, had declared Uzodimma the winner with 230,464 votes.
Okorocha, however, disputed the result, claiming that he secured 150,780 votes against Uzodimma’s 102,158 votes.
The former governor asked the court to determine whether INEC was bound by the reports submitted by its officials who monitored the primary election.
He also challenged the commission’s decision to publish Uzodimma’s name as the party’s candidate, raising constitutional questions over the governor’s eligibility to contest the senatorial seat while still serving as governor.
Okorocha sought an order nullifying the publication of Uzodimma’s name and directing INEC to recognise and publish him as the APC’s duly nominated candidate. He also requested that the governor, the party and their agents be restrained from presenting Uzodimma as the party’s candidate for the election.
In an affidavit supporting the suit, Amen Rochas, Okorocha’s son, alleged that Uzodimma purchased nomination forms for the senatorial contest despite his tenure as governor extending beyond the inauguration of the 11th Senate, scheduled for June 2027.
Uzodimma began his second term in January 2024, with his tenure expected to end in January 2028. The timing of the senatorial election has therefore raised questions about whether he would be required to relinquish his governorship position if elected to the Senate before completing his tenure.
Okorocha, who governed Imo State from 2011 to 2019, represented the state in the Senate between 2019 and 2023 before seeking the APC ticket for Imo West in the May 2026 primary.
The court’s decision marks a significant development in the APC’s Imo West senatorial nomination dispute ahead of the 2027 general elections, with Okorocha emerging as the court-recognised winner of the contested primary.
