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 certificate of return should only be issued to a candidate who won through free will. Okorocha took the matter to court, arguing that once a declaration was made, INEC lacked the statutory power to withhold the certificate.

The Federal High Court Abuja presided over at the time by Justice Okon Abang, held that INEC’s action was illegal and ordered the commission to issue the certificate of return to Okorocha. Not many understood why INEC should be forced to issue a certificate which it had ample cause to believe was falsely obtained. But then, the provision of the law at the time was that once an election result was officially announced, it could only be reversed by an election tribunal. This was probably one of the reasons why a new law gave INEC a quick opportunity to review its results but has INEC positioned itself to do so now or will the commission selectively wait to be coerced into doing so? The story we have just recalled draws attention to how powerful chieftains often distort Nigeria’s electoral process. We hear all the time that every party agent and the Police have copies of election results. If so, why is one big man able to get his own version of election results to prevail? What is more, why is so much noise made about a supposed robust security framework for an election if one candidate can mobilise his own type of local security to overwhelm a returning office into announcing false results by force? What has happened to those engaged to secure that returning officer that was so easily humiliated?

It is simplistic for anyone reading this piece to assume that Okorocha can do and undo during elections in Imo state. While not playing down on Okorocha’s ingenuity, he is neither the only principality nor can we say that he stands taller than other political juggernauts in the state. In this case of Imo West District, Okorocha will have Uzodimma to contend with. Till today, no one fully understands how Hope Uzodimma first won the governorship of Imo state – it is a report to be studied for several years to come. As a result, the current conflict between Okorocha and Uzodimma will take a while to resolve. We cannot in all honesty tell the story here without changing the title of today’s article. Perhaps a few highlights will suffice. Hope Uzodimma was not the person declared by the INEC as the winner of the governorship election. It was the judiciary that made him governor hence in some literature, he is referred to as Supreme Court governor. As far as INEC was concerned, Uzodimma occupied the 4th position in the contest. The person declared by INEC was Emeka Ihedioha who was previously Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives.

It is noteworthy that; first, the votes by which the judiciary declared Uzodimma the governor did not emanate from INEC that conducted the election. Second, the votes the judiciary relied upon was different from the number of accredited voters. Third, the judiciary in declaring Uzodimma of the APC the winner discountenanced its earlier affirmation of Uche Nwosu as the correct candidate of the APC. At the end of the day, the person declared as winner scored more votes than voters. If Uzodimma was able to do this, the current battle with Okorocha may not even have started. However, what will not be lost on us all is that Imo is a good example of a typical location for election manipulation in Nigeria. The state has been like that for so long. Some 20 years ago, a cleanly contested party primary election won by Ifeanyi Ararume was later distorted leaving that winner in the wilderness. Why can’t a state like Imo with a perceptible chunk of educated and articulate citizens resolve to put an end to the recurring dilemma?