Senatorial Race: How I Defeated Uzodimma In Court – Okorocha

Former Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha has explained how he defeated Governor Hope Uzodimma in court over the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial ticket for Imo West, alleging that discrepancies in documents presented in support of the governor’s emergence exposed irregularities in the party’s primary.

Okorocha spoke during an interview on Thursday, a day after the Federal High Court in Abuja declared him the winner of the disputed APC primary and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise him as the party’s candidate for the 2027 senatorial election.

The former governor also challenged the legitimacy of the APC leadership structure in Imo State, dismissing those allegedly mobilised against him as political associates of Uzodimma rather than representatives of properly elected party structures.

“Rochas is the APC in Imo State. I was a founding father of this party,” he said. “The structure of APC in Imo State is Rochas. And I gave the name APC.”

The comments signal a renewed confrontation between the two politicians, whose rivalry has shaped the APC’s internal politics in Imo.

The court, presided over by Justice Obiora Egwuatu, ordered Uzodimma to stop presenting himself as the APC’s candidate for Imo West Senatorial District.

It also directed the APC to forward Okorocha’s name to INEC for publication as its candidate for the election scheduled for January 16, 2027.

The judgment followed a suit filed by Okorocha challenging INEC’s recognition of Uzodimma as the winner of the party’s May 18 primary.

During Thursday’s interview, Okorocha gave his account of the documentary evidence that formed the basis of his legal challenge, alleging that records presented in support of Uzodimma’s emergence as the APC senatorial candidate contained several inconsistencies.

He said he obtained certified copies of documents relating to the primary from INEC on July 26, 2026, after making the necessary application and payments.

According to him, the documents subsequently relied upon by Uzodimma were presented to the electoral commission on August 22, almost a month after he had obtained his own certified copies.

Okorocha questioned the circumstances surrounding the emergence of the later documents, describing them as an afterthought.

He also alleged discrepancies in the dates recorded for the primary election.

He said documents supporting Uzodimma’s emergence indicated that the election was conducted on May 16, whereas the actual exercise took place on May 18.

Another inconsistency, according to him, concerned the description of Uzodimma’s emergence as a consensus arrangement despite the existence of competing aspirants and recorded votes.

Okorocha said the governor could not have emerged through consensus when he himself participated in the contest and was credited with votes.

He further alleged that result sheets covering more than 300 polling units across 144 wards and 12 local government areas were completed in the handwriting of one person.

He also claimed that some ward result sheets contained no entries, although documents subsequently presented at the local government level contained collated results.

Okorocha contrasted these documents with the records he said he obtained from INEC, insisting that his own were consistent in their presentation and certification.

He suggested that the discrepancies raised questions about the authenticity of the documents used to support Uzodimma’s nomination.

“All the misinformation on social media about my documents have been put to rest because the court has found out that the documents are genuine and correct,” he said.

Okorocha also challenged the suggestion that INEC had independently determined the outcome of the APC primary in Uzodimma’s favour.

He argued that the commission’s responsibility during party primaries was principally to monitor the exercise and keep records of the outcome submitted by the political party.

He alleged that although the results monitored by INEC favoured him, the figures eventually announced were different from those transmitted to the commission’s headquarters.

He said the party had, at some point, directed that the results should not be announced at the state level but taken to its national secretariat for announcement.

Okorocha said this created the discrepancy between the results he claimed were recorded during the exercise and the outcome eventually announced by the party.

He also questioned the origin of a letter allegedly submitted to the APC national chairman by the Imo Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), claiming that it was certified by the party rather than INEC.

According to him, the letter was expected to bear the signatures of both the REC and the Head of Election Monitoring, but only the REC signed it.

He said the document supporting his own claim was addressed to the APC national chairman and certified by INEC.

Okorocha maintained that these differences were part of the evidence he presented to challenge the governor’s nomination.

Responding to questions about why he did not institute his legal action within 14 days of the primary, Okorocha said he could not have challenged a result he believed had already been officially recorded in his favour.

He said he only became aware of the problem on September 1, when he discovered that his name had been displaced from the records despite having obtained certified copies of the relevant documents from INEC.

He explained that he had no reason to institute proceedings against himself when the documents in his possession showed that he had won the primary.

He subsequently sued INEC, joining the APC and Uzodimma as respondents.

The governor and the APC had challenged the suit on the grounds that it was filed outside the 14-day period prescribed for pre-election matters.

In their responses before the court, they disputed Okorocha’s account of the primary.

A representative of the governor’s election committee had told the court that Uzodimma won the exercise with 230,464 votes against Okorocha’s 1,098 votes.

INEC also maintained in its counter-affidavit that its officials monitored the election and reported Uzodimma as the winner.

Okorocha said he was confident that the facts supporting his case were strong enough to withstand further judicial review, although he acknowledged that the opposing parties retained the right to appeal.

He said he did not expect Uzodimma to challenge the judgment, stressing that the evidence before the court was compelling.

Beyond the senatorial nomination, Okorocha used the interview to challenge the political authority of those claiming control of the APC in Imo State.

He dismissed suggestions that influential party figures were mobilising against him, describing them as individuals appointed by Uzodimma rather than leaders who emerged through recognised party congresses.

“There are no forces, these are what I call the PAs of Hope, that he could put together and say, take chairman,” he said.

He questioned whether the party had conducted congresses to establish the legitimacy of the structures being presented as opposition to him.

“Has there been any election? Was there any congress conducted? There was none,” he said.

Okorocha also questioned the involvement of the Imo State Government in the legal dispute, explaining that the contest was between him and Uzodimma as individuals rather than between two governments.

“What does Imo State Government have to do with the election between me and Hope Uzodimma as a person? It’s not Imo State Government contesting for election, it’s Hope Uzodimma,” he said.

He maintained that his political relationship with the people of Imo State would enable him to mobilise support for the APC and President Bola Tinubu ahead of the 2027 elections.