The Independent National Electoral Commission has asked the State Security Service and the Nigeria Police Force to investigate a document circulating on social media which purportedly identifies former Imo State Governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha, as the winner of the All Progressives Congress primary election for the Imo West Senatorial District.
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INEC maintains that the document is fictitious and contradicts the primary election report in its possession, which it says identifies the incumbent Imo State Governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma, as the duly elected APC candidate for the senatorial district ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The commission’s intervention comes amid an ongoing legal battle between Okorocha, Uzodimma, INEC and the APC over who validly emerged from the party’s May 18, 2026 primary.
In separate letters dated October 5 and October 8, the Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Chukwuemeka Ibeziako, asked the SSS and the Commissioner of Police in the state to investigate the origin and circulation of the disputed document.
Ibeziako said INEC’s attention had been drawn to a purported APC senatorial primary result circulating on social media in which Okorocha was presented as the successful candidate for Imo West.
According to him, the document was inconsistent with the report forwarded to INEC’s national headquarters following the May 18 primary.
The REC said the report regarded by the commission as authentic identified Uzodimma as the winner and duly elected APC candidate.
“Unfortunately, the fictitious document wrongfully presented Senator Ethelbert Rochas Okorocha as the elected candidate for the Party,” the commission said.
INEC attached what it described as the authentic report to its complaint as “Annexure A,” while the disputed document was attached as “Annexure B,” giving the security agencies both documents for comparison during their investigation.
The commission warned that the circulation of the document could heighten political tension in Imo State and potentially disturb public order.
“In these circumstances, I urge you to graciously use your good offices to investigate and neutralise this spurious conduct that has serious likelihood of causing the breakdown of law and order in Imo State,” the REC stated.
The commission’s letters, however, concern the authenticity and circulation of the disputed document. Available accounts of the petitions do not establish that INEC identified Okorocha himself as the person who created or circulated it.
The controversy is already before the Federal High Court in Abuja, where Okorocha has challenged INEC’s recognition and publication of Uzodimma as the APC candidate for Imo West.
In his suit against INEC, the APC and Uzodimma, the former governor is asking the court to determine whether the electoral commission is bound by reports prepared by its officials who monitored the May 18 primary election.
Okorocha is also challenging the publication of Uzodimma’s name on constitutional grounds, relying, among other provisions, on Section 183 of the 1999 Constitution.
That section provides that a governor shall not, while holding office, hold another executive office or paid employment in any capacity.
Uzodimma began his second term as Imo State Governor in January 2024, and his tenure is expected to run until January 2028, several months after the inauguration of the next National Assembly in 2027. Okorocha’s case therefore raises questions not only about the disputed APC primary but also about the legal implications of Uzodimma contesting for the Senate while still serving as governor.
The latest move by INEC adds another dimension to the dispute, shifting part of the controversy from the courtroom to a security investigation over which version of the APC primary election document is genuine.
While Okorocha is asking the Federal High Court to determine his claim to the party’s ticket, INEC’s official position in its letters to the security agencies remains that the report before its headquarters names Uzodimma as the winner of the May 18 primary and that the document presenting Okorocha as the winner is fictitious.
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