A Federal High Court in Abuja has nullified the nomination of Governor Hope Uzodimma as the All Progressives Congress candidate for the Imo West Senatorial District in the 2027 general elections, ordering the Independent National Electoral Commission to recognise and publish the name of former Governor Rochas Okorocha instead.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu delivered the judgment on Thursday, holding that the evidence before the court established that Okorocha, not Uzodimma, won the APC primary election conducted on May 18, 2026, which was monitored by INEC. The judge ordered Uzodimma to stop parading himself as the party’s candidate for the January 16, 2027 election.
The court found that the nomination of Uzodimma breached Sections 29 and 32 of the Electoral Act and failed to comply with the APC’s guidelines for conducting primary elections. Justice Egwuatu described the party’s decision to forward Uzodimma’s name to INEC as “unlawful and fraudulent,” stating that it was wrong for the APC to present a candidate who did not win the primary. He set aside INEC’s publication of Uzodimma’s name on August 1 and ordered the commission to restore Okorocha’s name.
The judge also questioned the authenticity of the documents the APC submitted to justify Uzodimma’s nomination, noting that they contradicted each other and appeared to have been fabricated for an unlawful purpose. He identified conflicting accounts from party officials regarding how the primary was conducted, with some documents claiming Option A4 was used, others claiming a consensus arrangement produced Uzodimma, and another claiming a direct primary was held. Despite these conflicting claims, votes were reportedly allocated to aspirants.
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The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1854/2026, was filed by Okorocha on August 13, challenging INEC’s publication of Uzodimma’s name as the APC candidate. Okorocha argued that the commission was bound by the reports of its officers who monitored the primary election.
The ruling has sparked a fresh crisis within the Imo State chapter of the APC. The party has insisted that Uzodimma remains its candidate, stating that he won the primary with overwhelming support and that its legal department will study the judgment before deciding on its next move. Uzodimma, who is serving his second and final term as governor until January 2028, would have to resign if he eventually prevails in the senatorial contest, forfeiting the remaining six months of his tenure to take up the seat.
The judgment also intensifies the long-running rivalry between Okorocha and Uzodimma. Okorocha served as governor from 2011 to 2019 and represented Imo West in the Senate from 2019 to 2023. Uzodimma became governor through a controversial Supreme Court judgment in January 2020, despite Okorocha backing another candidate to succeed him.
For now, the legal battle is likely to continue, with Uzodimma reserving the right to appeal the judgment, a case that could ultimately reach the Supreme Court. But for the people of Imo West, the ruling is a stark reminder that the battle for political power in the state is far from over, and that the courts have once again been dragged into a fight that should have been settled at the party level.
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