A former Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, has sued the Independent National Electoral Commission over the publication of the name of the state’s Governor, Hope Uzodimma, as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the Imo West senatorial district in the 2027 election.
The originating summons, in Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/1854/2026, was filed on 13 August 2026 at the Federal High Court in Abuja by O.J. Aboje, counsel to the former governor. The other respondents are the Governor and the party.
The dispute concerns the party’s direct primary held on 18 May 2026. The chairman and returning officer of the Imo APC National Assembly Primary Election Committee, Rear Admiral Williams Kayode (rtd), declared the Governor winner with 230,464 votes, and announced that he had obtained the highest number of valid votes and satisfied the party guidelines and applicable law. The officially announced result put the former governor at 1,098 votes.
In the affidavit supporting the suit, sworn by Amen Rochas, identified as the plaintiff’s son, an entirely different outcome is alleged.
The plaintiff’s core factual case is therefore not merely that the Governor was ineligible, but that he himself won the primary, allegedly according to materials and reports from the Commission’s officials who monitored it.
The affidavit also states that the Governor, whose tenure would not have expired by 2027 when the Senate is to be inaugurated, purchased the nomination forms for the ticket.
The originating summons is reported to pose five questions and to seek ten reliefs.
The plaintiff asks the court to determine whether the Commission is not bound by the reports of its officers who monitored the primary conducted on 18 May for the nomination of a candidate for the district.
Citing Section 183 of the Constitution, he asks the court to determine whether the publication of the Governor’s name as winner of the primary was not wrongful. That section provides: “The Governor shall not, during the period when he holds office, hold any other executive office or paid employment in any capacity whatsoever.”
He prays the court to declare that it was unconstitutional for the Commission to publish the Governor’s name as the party’s candidate when he did not emerge as winner of the primary.
He seeks an order setting aside or voiding the publication by which the Commission declared the Governor the aspirant who polled the highest number of votes cast.
He asks for an order directing the Commission to recognise and publish his own name as the duly nominated candidate of the party to contest the election.
He further seeks an order prohibiting the Governor, whether by himself or through the party or anyone else, from parading himself as the nominated candidate, together with costs against the respondents.
Party stakeholders in the state publicly backed the Governor and urged other aspirants to step down for him as a consensus candidate. The former governor refused and insisted on a contested primary.
Party stakeholders in the state publicly backed the Governor and urged other aspirants to step down for him as a consensus candidate. The former governor refused and insisted on a contested primary.
The party conducted a direct primary on 18 May 2026 across the 12 local government areas of Imo West, with reported voting in 305 wards.
The Governor represented Imo West in the Senate from 2011 to 2019 before becoming governor. He is serving a second term, which commenced in January 2024 and would ordinarily run until January 2028. He is also chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum.
The plaintiff was Governor of the state from 2011 to 2019 and represented Imo West in the Senate from 2019 to 2023. He was for years a principal figure in building and controlling the party structure in the state.
Their competing structures have made the contest for the seat particularly contentious.
A separate controversy arises from the calendar. The Eleventh Senate is expected to be inaugurated in June 2027, more than six months before the expiration of the Governor’s current term in January 2028. That has prompted debate over whether he would resign as governor should he win the senatorial election.