Court Orders Hope Uzodinma To Stop Parading Himself As Imo West Senatorial Candidate
By Sunday Etuka
A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, to immediately stop parading himself as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Imo West Senatorial election scheduled for January 16, 2027.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu issued the order after holding that Uzodinma did not win the May 18 primary election conducted by the APC and monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In his judgment, the judge held that the evidence presented before the court showed that former Governor Rochas Okorocha won the majority of the votes cast at the primary and should be recognised as the winner.
Justice Egwuatu subsequently ordered the APC to forward Okorocha’s name as its candidate for the Imo West Senatorial election in the 2027 general elections. He also directed INEC to publish Okorocha’s name as the party’s candidate.
The judgment is the latest development in a long running rivalry between the two political heavyweights from Imo State.
Okorocha served as Governor of Imo State from 2011 to 2019 and was elected on the platform of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) before joining the APC in 2013.
He later went on to represent Imo West in the Senate from 2019, after contesting the seat in the 2019 general elections.
Uzodinma, who is the current Governor, assumed office in January 2020 after the Supreme Court sat in judgment on the 2019 governorship election in Imo State.
The apex court nullified the declaration of Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winner and declared Uzodinma, the APC candidate, as the duly elected governor.
He was re-elected in the November 2023 governorship election.
Relations between Okorocha, who was Uzodinma’s predecessor in the APC fold, and the governor have been strained since then, with both men often locked in public disagreements over the control of the party structure in the state.
Imo West, also known as the Orlu Zone, has remained at the centre of the contest, as it is the senatorial district Okorocha previously represented.
Pre-election disputes over party primaries are not new in Nigerian politics. Under the Electoral Act, aspirants who are aggrieved by the conduct of a primary can approach the Federal High Court for redress, and the courts have in several past cases ordered political parties to substitute or recognise candidates after finding that a primary was improperly conducted.
