Court Orders Arrest of Ex-Senator Rochas Okorocha, Araraume Over Alleged Forgery

• A senior magistrate court in Abuja issued bench warrants for former Imo governor Rochas Okorocha and ex-senator Ifeanyi Araraume over alleged forgery of APC primary results
• INEC separately wrote to the police and DSS urging them to investigate Okorocha after disowning a document he circulated claiming he won the Imo West senatorial primary
• The commission said its authentic record showed Governor Hope Uzodimma, not Okorocha, as the duly declared winner of the APC primary election

Abuja, FCT - A Senior Magistrate Court in Abuja has ordered the arrest of former Imo state governor Rochas Okorocha and ex-senator Ifeanyi Araraume in connection with charges of criminal conspiracy, forgery, and uttering false documents related to All Progressives Congress (APC) primary results.

The bench warrant, dated September 9, 2026, was issued in case numbers CR/M/JW/084/2026 and CR/M/JW/085/2026, with the Inspector-General of Police named as the opposing party, Channels TV reported.

Two others, Timothy Ama Chuks and Amen Okorocha, were also named in the warrants on allegations that they conspired with Okorocha to forge APC primary results that falsely declared him the winner. All police officers across Nigeria are authorised under the warrants to apprehend the four individuals and bring them before Senior Magistrate Court 3 at Jiwa, Abuja.

INEC Disowns Document Circulated by Okorocha

The warrants came alongside a separate move by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which formally distanced itself from a document being circulated by Okorocha that purported he won the APC senatorial primary for Imo West (Orlu zone), ThisDay also stated.

In a letter dated October 8, 2026 and signed by Imo State Resident Electoral Commissioner Chukwuemeka Ibeziako, INEC wrote to both the Commissioner of Police in Imo state and the state's Department of State Services (DSS) director, describing the circulating document as a "fraudulent and fictitious All Progressives Congress senatorial party primary report for Imo State dated 18th May, 2026."

INEC said the genuine document submitted by the APC to its headquarters named Governor Hope Uzodimma as the clear winner of the primary and the party's candidate for the Imo West Senatorial Zone. "The fictitious document wrongly presented Senator Ethelbert Rochas Okorocha as the elected candidate for the party," the commission said.

Security Agencies Urged to Act

INEC enclosed both the original results and the allegedly forged version when submitting its petition, urging the security agencies to take firm action. "In these circumstances, I urge you to graciously use your good offices to investigate and neutralise this spurious conduct that has a serious likelihood of causing the breakdown of law and order in Imo State," Ibeziako wrote.

The combined action by the court and INEC significantly raises the legal and political stakes for Okorocha, who has been locked in a bitter contest over the APC senatorial ticket ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Court Gives Judgment on Imo APC Senatorial Primary Crisis

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that a Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a suit through which Senator Araraume sought to unseat Senator Patrick Ndubueze as the APC candidate for the Imo North Senatorial District ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Justice Salim Ibrahim, delivering judgment on August 26, ruled that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter because a court of coordinate jurisdiction had already ruled on a related case.

Justice Ibrahim upheld a preliminary objection filed by Ndubueze's legal team, led by Prof. Paul Ananaba, SAN, who argued that the suit amounted to an abuse of court process.