The fight for the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket in Imo West senatorial district is heading to the Court of Appeal. Governor Hope Uzodimma’s camp says it will challenge a Federal High Court judgment in Abuja that removed him as the party’s candidate for the 2027 Senate election and declared his predecessor, former governor Rochas Okorocha, the rightful winner of the primary.
The ruling, delivered this week by Justice Obiora Egwuatu, has reopened one of the most bitter rivalries in South-East politics and raised fresh questions about how party primaries are conducted ahead of the 2027 general elections.
What the court ordered
According to Premium Times, the judge held that Okorocha presented enough evidence to show that he, and not Uzodimma, won the APC primary held on May 18, 2026. The suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1854/2026, was filed by Okorocha on August 13 against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the APC and the governor.
The court ordered INEC to publish Okorocha’s name as the APC’s validly nominated candidate for Imo West, directed the party to forward his name to the commission, and restrained Uzodimma from presenting himself as the candidate. The senatorial election is scheduled for January 16, 2027.
The Sun reported that the judge found some of the documents tendered on the governor’s side contradictory, and that the nomination was said to breach sections of the Electoral Act and the party’s own primary guidelines.
Competing vote figures
The case turned on sharply different accounts of the primary. In an affidavit, Okorocha’s son, Amen Rochas, said his father polled 150,780 votes against 102,158 for Uzodimma, and claimed INEC’s own reports backed this before the commission published the governor as winner on August 1.
Uzodimma, in his counter-affidavit, said he won with 230,464 votes to Okorocha’s 1,098. INEC told the court its monitoring report showed the governor had the most votes and said it received no complaints from aspirants, Premium Times reported. An INEC legal officer also denied signing exhibits tendered by Okorocha.
Uzodimma’s grounds of appeal
Imo’s Commissioner for Information, Declan Emelumba, outlined the governor’s planned challenge, according to The Sun. He argued that the suit raised allegations of forgery and perjury that could not properly be decided on affidavit evidence alone, and that the judge departed from Supreme Court precedent.
The governor’s camp also insists the case was filed too late. Both Uzodimma and the APC had raised preliminary objections that pre-election suits must be filed within 14 days under Section 285(9) of the Constitution; Emelumba said Okorocha went to court 87 days after the primary. The party’s Imo spokesperson, Jones Onwuasoanya, said the APC still recognises Uzodimma as its candidate and that its legal department is studying the judgment before deciding its next step.
Okorocha: “Justice has prevailed”
Okorocha welcomed the ruling. Speaking to TVC News, he dared those unhappy with it to go to the higher court, saying “if they want to appeal, let them appeal.” He also urged the police to go after those he accused of forging documents. His lawyer said his client had been vindicated.
The two men have a long history. Okorocha governed Imo from 2011 to 2019 and later represented Imo West in the Senate until 2023. Uzodimma became governor in January 2020 through a Supreme Court judgment and is now serving a second and final term that runs until January 2028. If he wins the Senate seat, he would have to leave office about six months early.
What happens next
Lawyers expect the dispute to travel from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court, with the clock ticking towards the January 2027 poll. Until a higher court rules otherwise, the Federal High Court order stands, putting pressure on INEC over whose name appears on the ballot. The outcome will also be watched by aspirants in other states who are contesting how their parties’ primaries were run.
Sources: Premium Times, The Sun, TVC News, Legit.ng.