Alleged forgery: Court issues arrest warrant against ex-Imo gov, Okorocha, Araraume

A Senior Magistrate Court sitting in Abuja has issued bench warrants for the arrest of former Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, and Senator Ifeanyi Araraume over allegations of criminal conspiracy, forgery and the presentation of false documents.

The court also ordered the arrest of Timothy Ama Chuks and Amen Okorocha, who were accused of conspiring with Okorocha to forge and submit fake All Progressives Congress, APC, primary election results allegedly showing that the former governor had won.

Under the warrants, police officers across the country are authorised to arrest Okorocha, Araraume, Chuks and Amen Okorocha and bring them before Senior Magistrate Court 3 in Jiwa, Abuja.

The development comes as the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has called on the police and the Department of State Services, DSS, to investigate Okorocha over allegations that he paraded fake APC primary election results.

The bench warrants, issued on September 9, 2026, listed criminal conspiracy, forgery and the presentation of false documents among the charges against the accused.

The matter is between the Inspector-General of Police and the four wanted persons.

Meanwhile, INEC has rejected a document circulated by Okorocha purporting to show that he won the APC senatorial primary.

The commission maintained that the authentic results submitted to it by the APC indicated that Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma emerged victorious in the primary. 

It added that the party subsequently forwarded Uzodimma’s name as its candidate for the Imo West Senatorial District, also known as Orlu Zone.

In a strongly worded letter addressed to the Commissioner of Police in Imo State and the state director of the DSS, INEC described the document being circulated by Okorocha as fake and called on the security agencies to investigate the former governor.

In the letter dated October 8, 2026, and signed by the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Imo State, Chukwuemeka Ibeziako, INEC declared that it was reporting a case of “fraudulent and fictitious All Progressives Congress senatorial party primary report for Imo State dated 18th May, 2026.”

It raised the alarm that, contrary to the document duly signed by the APC and forwarded to its headquarters, which identified Uzodimma as the clear winner of the primary election, the document circulating on social media purported to show Okorocha as the winner, hence the petition.

“The fictitious document wrongly presented Senator Ethelbert Rochas Okorocha as the elected candidate for the party,” INEC said.

While enclosing the original results declaring Uzodimma the rightful winner of the primary and the fake document allegedly being paraded by Okorocha, INEC urged the police and the DSS to thoroughly investigate the alleged forgery.

“In these circumstances, I urge you to graciously use your good offices to investigate and neutralise this spurious conduct that has a serious likelihood of causing the breakdown of law and order in Imo State,” INEC charged the police and the DSS.