Imo West Senate Seat: APC Chairmen Say ‘Uzodimma Remains Our Candidate’, Court Rulings ‘Satanic Plan Hatched by Abuja Politicians Against the South East’

Angered by what they described as the open theft of their freely granted mandate to Senator Hope Uzodimma, by the Abuja High Court, APC chairmen of the 12 local governments that make up the Imo West senatorial zone on Friday reaffirmed their position on the governor’s candidature.

They also rejected the ruling of the Abuja High Court, which ordered INEC to publish the name of Senator Rochas Okorocha in place of Uzodimma, saying the governor’s tenure remains sacrosanct.

“We reject this ruling in its entirety because it is a blatant travesty of justice. It is a political robbery disguised in legal garb, the latest installment of a satanic plan hatched by politicians in Abuja against the South East,” they said.

Addressing a global press conference in Owerri on Friday, the APC chairmen revealed that among the people who were on the ground on May 18, 2026 when the APC primaries for Imo West senatorial zone took place, Rochas Okorocha polled only 1,098 votes against the 230,000 votes polled by Uzodimma who was declared the winner in the presence of INEC personnel who monitored the exercise.

In the text of the press conference read on their behalf by the state chairman of APC, Chief Austin Onyedebelu, the chairmen further stated that Okorocha never used the window provided by APC to petition the party’s appeals panel to complain about any irregularities, only to then go to court to be handed the win.

They noted that given Okorocha’s wild celebrations since Thursday when he obtained the court order and his claims of having obtained help from higher quarters outside the court, they were convinced that there was a conspiracy to exclude Ndigbo from political relevance in Nigeria.

According to them, “for the avoidance of doubt, we NEVER VOTED FOR ROCHAS OKOROCHA. This legal somersault orchestrated by Ndigbo’s enemies was obviously procured not only to destabilize the Orlu area but to consolidate the war of attrition of some Nigerians to keep the South East politically under control.”

The chairmen said they are enraged that people outside Igboland want to use Okorocha as an errand boy to supplant the desire of the majority of APC members in Orlu zone who overwhelmingly voted Hope Uzodimma as their candidate.

“Our grievance is with a small circle of power brokers who seem determined to ensure that no Igbo man comes close to the first, second or third position in the country. We therefore appeal to President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, whose leadership we support and will continue to support, to look closely at the men behind this project,” they submitted.

They noted that while they remain loyal members of the APC, the party must act quickly to resolve this “robbery” before it causes trouble in the South East.

Describing Hope Uzodimma as the beating heart of the APC in the South East, the APC chairmen reaffirmed their support for him and the mandate they have given him as the senatorial candidate for the January 16 National Assembly elections.

However, they expressed concern about what might happen if the judicial robbery persists and pleaded with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR, as the party leader, to urgently intervene in the matter.

“While we hope and pray that this sinister action by the enemies of Ndigbo will be quashed by the Court of Appeal, we fear the backlash of this odious attempt to deny the people of the South East their rightful political position of being at least number three in Nigeria, something we have been denied for almost 20 years,” they concluded.