• Orders INEC to publish ex-governor’s title
Alex Enumah in Abuja
Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, yesterday, ordered the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma, to right away cease parading himself as the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Imo West Senatorial election slated for January 16, 2027.
Egwuatu issued the order after holding that Uzodinma didn’t win the May 18 major election carried out by APC and monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The decide, in his judgement, held that proof offered earlier than the court docket proved that former Governor Rochas Okorocha truly received majority of the votes solid on the ballot, and he needs to be declared the candidate of APC within the Imo West Senatorial election.
Okorocha had dragged INEC, APC, and Uzodinma to court docket following the substitution of his title with that of Uzodinma as candidate of APC within the senatorial election.
The former governor, within the swimsuit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1854/2026, queried why his occasion ought to submit the title of the incumbent governor as its candidate, and why INEC ought to publish identical after saying him as winner of the May 18 major election.
Among the reliefs he sought from the court docket included an order nullifying and setting apart the submission of the title of Uzodinma and publishing of identical, for being illegal, unconstitutional, and in breach of the electoral legal guidelines.
Okorocha additionally prayed the court docket to declare him as candidate of APC within the mentioned election and sought an order to the electoral umpire to publish his title as the rightful candidate of APC.
Responding, INEC, APC and Uzodinma, whereas claiming that Uzodinma received majority of the votes solid, urged the court docket to dismiss the case for being statute barred.
However, delivering judgement on the matter, yesterday, Egwuatu held that the case by Okorocha was filed throughout the 14 days required by regulation. He defined that opposite to the submissions of the defendants, the date of the reason for litigation was August 1, when INEC revealed the title of Uzodinma as APC’s candidate, and never May 18, when the first election was carried out, or July 14, when APC forwarded Uzodinma’s title to INEC.
The court docket additionally dismissed the defendants’ argument that Okorocha must have appealed the end result of the first, questioning how an individual who received an election ought to problem his personal victory.
Having held that the case was justiciable and that the court docket had jurisdiction to entertain the swimsuit, the court docket then delved into the problem of who received the first election.
Egwuatu acknowledged that after a radical examination of all paperwork offered by the applicant and the defendants, it was apparent that Okorocha received the May 18 major however was denied the victory.
According to the decide, the paperwork offered by the defendants exhibiting Uzodinma received the first election had been “fabricated”.
The court docket, as well as, described the motion of the defendants as “an afterthought”, as a result of the “respondents’ documents were made up after it became clear that the applicant won the primary”.
Egwuatu mentioned, “Majority of the paperwork tendered by APC to assist the purported nomination of Uzodimma (third respondent) contradicts one another, indicating that they had been clearly fabricated for the illegal objective of nominating the third respondent as candidate.
“In view of the doubt cast on the authenticity of the documents, the court cannot ascribe probative value to the purported documents.”
Dismissing allegations that Okorocha solid INEC paperwork, the court docket noticed that the respondents didn’t current the genuine paperwork to substantiate the allegation of forgery.
Egwuatu additional faulted APC for refusing to offer Okorocha with the INEC kind to finish as candidate of APC for Imo West Senatorial District, regardless of a number of requests by the applicant.
The decide acknowledged that the failure of the occasion to problem Okorocha the mentioned kind was a “calculated attempt to deny the applicant his hard won victory”, including that “the substitution of the applicant’s name with that of the 3rd respondent is not in conformity with the law and APC’s constitution”.
Egwuatu acknowledged, “Once an election is validly held and a winner emerged, the party cannot cancel… or refuse to forward the name of the winner to INEC”. He added that the refusal to submit Okorocha’s title was a breach of the regulation.
The decide subsequently declared that it was illegal for APC to substitute the title of Okorocha with that of Uzodinma and for INEC to go forward to publish identical.
The court docket additionally declared as unconstitutional INEC’s reception of Uzodinma’s title from APC and recognition of the governor as the occasion’s candidate, “when it was not the third respondent that emerged winner of the May 18 major election for Imo West Senatorial election.
“The applicant being winner of the primary election is the person lawfully entitled to have his name forwarded and published by INEC.”
Egwuatu, citing Section 183 of the 1999 Constitution, held that the publication of Uzodinma’s title as winner of the ballot was wrongful.
The court docket careworn that Okorocha was the lawfully nominated candidate of APC, having scored the best votes solid on the ballot.
The decide subsequently made an order setting apart the declaration of Uzodinma as candidate for Imo West, saying that in his place, INEC ought to restore the title of Okorocha.
Egwuatu made the next orders, “An order directing the title of the applicant forwarded to INEC as candidate of the APC within the Imo West Senatorial election and publishing of identical by INEC.
“An order prohibiting the 3rd respondent from parading himself as candidate of the APC in the Imo West Senatorial election.”
Okorocha’s son, Amen Rochas, who is additionally his (Okorocha’s) Special Adviser on Political Matters, recommended the judiciary for what he known as its honest judgement, regardless of alleged makes an attempt to arm-twist the courts, utilizing pretend information.
He acknowledged, “I must salute the judiciary. With all this fake news that happened just recently, I’m sure it was to arm-twist the judiciary, but they stood firm.”
He additionally recommended his father for remaining targeted on President Bola Tinubu’s marketing campaign, regardless of overwhelming strain arising from the dispute.
