Okorocha, Uzodimma in Imo’s political history, by Tonnie Iredia

A good student of history will not find it hard to comprehend an established pattern of how elections are won and lost in Imo state, Southeast, Nigeria. In this piece, the focus is more on two personalities – governor Hope Uzodinma and former governor Rochas Okorocha. The latest between both gladiators of the same ruling All Progressive Congress, APC is that an Abuja federal high court presided over by Justice Obiora Egwuatu has nullified Uzodimma’s nomination as the APC candidate for Imo West for the 2027 general elections.

In his place, the court declared Okorocha, the authentic winner of the May 18, 2026 primary election of the party and consequently ordered INEC to replace Uzodimma’s name with Okorocha’s. In another clime, this would have passed for a normal story that would quickly be put behind us but not so for Imo where electoral contests are usually stretched to a breaking point.

First, the party that the law empowers to determine who should be its candidate has already rejected Egwuatu’s ruling. APC says Uzodimma remains its candidate admonishing all concerned to depart from the uncivilized practice of ignoring the direction of the Supreme Court which says that the determination of a party flagbearer rests with the political party concerned.

The ruling party also raised several anomalies. They say, for instance, that Okorocha did not participate in the primaries and was not physically present at the venue of the contest. In the words of Enyinna Onuegbu, the Deputy Chief of Staff to governor Uzodimma, ‘Imo people never saw Okorocha as an aspirant’ wondering how a person who participated in an election in his senatorial district did not call for celebration in his community, his family did not celebrate his victory and does not have a video recording or pictures of where his hand was raised in victory.

Considering that a federal high court has already determined the winner of the contest, it would appear that the issues being raised now by Uzodimma’s team are better put before a higher level of the judiciary. Of course, that will be done as the two parties involved are quite familiar with what to do especially their acclaimed power to attract the use of state organs.

For example, whereas it is contestants that usually fight their individual cases, it was the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC in Imo State that petitioned security agencies, stating that online documents claiming Okorocha won the primary contradicted the certified report recognizing Governor Hope Uzodimma as the legitimate winner. Although the position of INEC as an eyewitness, and in fact the official monitor of party primaries, looks rational, the commission hardly takes the same degree of interest in similar cases.

Instead, the public perceives INEC’s monitoring of primaries as discretionary especially as its reports on them can be rejected by the courts. Two other public bodies were also quite swift in getting involved in the case. The report was as follows. At the instance of the Police, a senior magistrate court sitting in Jiwa, Abuja had on September 9, 2026 reportedly issued a bench warrant for the arrest of Rochas Okorocha and three others for failure to honour police invitation for questioning.

The underlying case concerned an alleged fake result for APC’s senatorial primary election for Imo West held on May 18, 2026. Here, the Police showed considerable instant interest in a case referencing, criminal conspiracy, forgery and the use/production of false documents. The Police eventually arrested the former governor in Abuja on October 12, 2028 but released him on bail after a brief interrogation over certain allegations which included impersonation.

CSP Anietie Iniedu, the Police Public Relations Officer later told the media that the former governor had been directed to return to the Force Headquarters the next day for further interrogation. On national television, Nigerians actually saw Okorocha getting in and out of a police station but nothing has since been heard of the nature and consequence of his supposed arrest.

To some people, the picture painted was like that of a courtesy visit by Okorocha to the Police. Consequently, the issue of whether or not the former governor has a case to answer would appear to have been overtaken by the decision of the Abuja federal high court which has declared him the authentic winner of the controversial party primary. Besides, this is not the first time Okorocha’s victory at an election is being made to look like magic.

In 2019, INEC was constrained to withhold Okorocha’s Certificate of Return in the senatorial election to the same Imo West District because the returning officer for the contest, Francis Ibeawuchi, reportedly claimed that he was made to declare Okorocha the winner under duress. The returning officer had complained bitterly that he was harassed and intimidated into making a false election declaration.

INEC’s rather persuasive argument at the time was that a ce