Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma’s road to the Senate has just hit a major judicial roadblock.
On Thursday, October 29, 2026, Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court, Abuja, nullified Uzodimma’s emergence as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Imo West Senatorial District for the January 16, 2027 election.
The judgment is a devastating blow to a sitting governor and Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum.
Rochas Okorocha filed the suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1854/2026, in August, challenging INEC’s publication of Uzodimma’s name. While the APC primary committee had declared Uzodimma the winner with 230,464 votes, Okorocha contended he polled 150,780 votes to Uzodimma’s 102,158 votes.
The court accordingly held that Uzodimma did not win the May 18, 2026 primary monitored by INEC, and ordered INEC to recognise former Governor Rochas Okorocha, who polled a majority of votes, as the authentic candidate. With that judgment, Uzodimma was restrained from parading himself as a candidate.
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That outcome has triggered apprehensions in political circles. Some pundits see the development as a fallout of the high-wire politics behind his reported ambition to become President of the 11th Senate. Others see it as a consequence of the simmering “political war” with the powerful Rainbow Coalition led by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike.
On the Senate aspiration, Uzodimma is no stranger to the Red Chamber. He represented Imo West from 2011 to 2019 before the Supreme Court declared him Governor in 2020.
But sources say he is not returning to the Senate as an ordinary lawmaker. He is reportedly eyeing the Senate Presidency to replace Godswill Akpabio. That ambition has already triggered a “cold war” with Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
At the inauguration of the APC Presidential Campaign Council on October 14, 2025, in Abuja, Akpabio playfully fired a “warning shot” on the issue. He openly canvassed, in the presence of President Bola Tinubu, for a second term as Senate President. Quoting Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State, he said: “If the cloth is not torn, why try to amend it?”
He then added pointedly, “You must not abandon your people. I did eight years as a governor. The constitution says you should do eight years. There is no need to start eyeing another position that is not available. I have been in this business for 25 years, and I always win.”
Uzodimma was in the same hall and had declared: “I will be on the ballot as a senatorial candidate.” That hope is today, facing a serious challenge.
Uzodimma’s second term as Governor of Imo State ends on January 15, 2028. But the 11th Senate will be inaugurated in June 2027. If he wins in January 2027, he would have to resign seven months early, thus abandoning his gubernatorial mandate to take his Senate seat – a precedent critics call dangerous.
The 10th Senate has already brought up ranking issues. It amended its Standing Orders to restrict the Senate Presidency’s contest to ranking senators with at least two terms, one being the immediate past term. The move is seen as a pre-emptive strike against returnee governors like Uzodimma. Recently, the Senate followed up by declaring that positions of Senate President and Principal Officers are not vacant in the forthcoming 11th Senate.
The Imo West ticket itself is more or less a “family political feud.” Uzodimma vs Okorocha vs incumbent Senator Osita Izunaso. The court judgment has now resurrected Okorocha, Uzodimma’s fiercest political enemy in Imo, as the beneficiary.
For now, Uzodimma’s rumoured Senate Presidency dream hangs on an appeal. If the judgment stands, the Chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum may end his eight years in Government House without a seat in the next Senate.
With Okorocha now holding the ticket by court order, Akpabio defending his seat, and Wike’s Rainbow Coalition threatening his grip on Imo APC structure, Uzodimma’s dream of moving from Douglas House to presiding over the Senate may be sinking in the very murky waters he sought to navigate.
FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, though a PDP member serving in an APC government, is running the Rainbow Coalition – a cross-party vehicle to deliver votes for President Bola Tinubu in 2027 while allowing members to support PDP candidates for Senate, House of Representatives and Governorship.
The Progressive Governors Forum, chaired by Uzodimma, has vehemently rejected it. The governors say it creates voter confusion, ticket splitting, parallel structures, and undermines official APC candidates.
Uzodimma, as PGF Chairman and Secretary of the Presidential Campaign Council, has led the charge: “There is no Rainbow Coalition in Imo State. Are you listening? If I see you walk outside APC, I’ll collect the vehicle from you.”
He said this on Tuesday while distributing PBAT Door-to-Door campaign vehicles in Owerri, warning APC members against romancing Wike.
As expected, Wike hit back hard during a media chat in Abuja. “When you see Hope Uzodimma, ask him, when he was going for a second term, did I support him or not? I supported Uzodimma against the PDP candidate who was my national secretary, Sam Anyanwu. Rainbow Coalition has come to stay, and there is nothing anybody can do about it.”
Wike then directly spoke on Uzodimma’s Senate ambition: “Uzodimma opposes the Rainbow Coalition mainly because he believes it could jeopardise his ambition to become Senate President.”
In Nigeria’s politics, the murkier the water, the bigger the fish – but sometimes, the water swallows the fisherman.
We watch as events unfold. As often said, all is fair in politics!
