INEC faults document naming Okorocha as APC senatorial candidate
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the Department of State Services (DSS) and the police to investigate a circulating document it described as a fictitious report of the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primary election in Imo State.
In separate letters dated October 5 and 8, 2026, the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Imo State, Chukwuemeka Ibeziako, asked the security agencies to investigate a document circulating on social media that named former governor Rochas Okorocha as the winner of the APC primary for Imo West Senatorial District.
Ibeziako said the document contradicted the authentic result report submitted to INEC’s national headquarters, which identified Governor Hope Uzodimma as the party’s duly elected candidate for the senatorial district.
In his letter to the DSS state director, dated October 5, the REC said the authentic report, dated May 18, 2026, named Uzodimma as the winner of the primary election, while the disputed document wrongly presented Okorocha as the elected candidate.
He said he attached the authentic report as Annexure A and the disputed document as Annexure B, urging the DSS to investigate the matter.
Ibeziako warned that the circulation of the document could cause tension and potentially lead to a breakdown of law and order in Imo State. He subsequently sent a similar complaint to the state commissioner of police on October 8.
The development comes amid a legal dispute between Okorocha, INEC, Uzodimma and the APC over the party’s senatorial ticket for Imo West ahead of the 2027 general election.
Okorocha had approached the Federal High Court in Abuja, asking it to determine whether INEC was bound by the reports of its officials who monitored the May 18 primary. He also challenged the publication of Uzodimma’s name as the party’s candidate, citing Section 183 of the 1999 Constitution, which restricts a sitting governor from holding another executive office or engaging in paid employment while in office.
