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Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo, on Monday, emerged the candidate of APC Imo West Senatorial District after polling 230,464 votes.
Retired Rear Adm. Williams Kayoda, the Chairman and Returning Officer of the 2026 Imo APC National Assembly Primary Election Committee, declared the result at Orlu Local Government Area headquarters.
Kayoda said Uzodimma defeated former governor of the state, Sen. Rochas Okorocha, who garnered 1,098 votes at the party primary election held across 12 local government areas of the senatorial zone.
He said “I hereby formerly declare that his Excellency, Sen. Hope Uzodimma, has satisfied all the requirements of the party constitution, the guidelines as well as the relevant laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Having scored the highest number of valid votes of 230,464 votes, he is hereby declared the winner of the APC Imo West Senatorial District Primary election.”
Kayoda had also declared Sen. Patrick Ndubueze winner of the Imo North Senatorial District primary election after polling 108,862 votes to defeat Sen. Ifeanyi Ararume who scored 79 votes.
Earlier, Uzodimma had expressed confidence in APC’s strength to emerge victorious in the 2027 general elections and described the primary election as “peaceful, transparent and widely accepted by party members across the state.
“You can see how committed the party members are and the loyalty they have shown since we started this primary.”
He said APC had continued to grow stronger in the state, particularly at the grassroots.
It is a good thing. APC has come to stay in Imo.
The Oru East Local Government Chairman, Mr Ikenna Adikibe, commended party members for what he described as “their maturity, discipline and orderly conduct throughout the exercise.”
Adikibe said the process was devoid of violence, destruction or electoral crisis across the state.
“The exercise was peaceful. People conducted themselves appropriately and we thank God that there was no ugly incident reported anywhere.
“Overall, it was a successful outing,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that a total of nine aspirants purchased nomination forms for the Senate primaries across the three senatorial zones of the state.
Buba Galadima, Secretary, Board of Trustees, BoT, New Nigeria People’s Party, NNPP, has said that President Bola Tinubu-led government “destroyed democracy” in Nigeria.
Also he alleged that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, set up a committee long before the electoral bill was presented to the National Assembly
Buba Galadima said these on Saturday at the Nigeria Democratic Congress, NDC, aspirants’ summit held in Abuja.
Read Also: Lawyers Raise Fair Trial Concerns In Diezani’s UK Case
Furthermore, he held, the Electoral Act 2026 was designed to frustrate opposition parties.
His words: “By the time the National Assembly deliberated and finalised on the draft electoral bill, within an hour, the President was signing the bill.
“Did he study that bill? So, it means they have already prepared a bill before him.
“What were the contents of that bill? One of them, which concerns this summit, is that you can only generate candidates through two ways. That is, through consensus or through direct primaries.
“Now, in the opinion of the APC and its government, they thought that the opposition will not be in a position to sit down and do consensus.
“And if they can’t do consensus, the only option open to them is to go and do direct primaries. I want to say, without fear of being contradicted, that no political party in the opposition can do direct primaries and come out completely clean.
“As I speak to you now, NDC is the strongest political platform that can successfully challenge the APC and root it out of government.
“The party cannot afford to do primaries because they will send people to disrupt everything and we end up without a candidate.
“So, it is better for us to maintain unity, to maintain loyalty to the party and to the decision of the elders of this party or the major stakeholders of all our constituencies that whoever emerges as a candidate for any constituency in this country, we will all support that person to succeed.”
The League of Legal Practitioners of Nigeria, yesterday, questioned the fairness and evidential basis of the ongoing United Kingdom trial involving former Petroleum Minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, insisting that the case must be determined strictly on credible evidence and proof beyond reasonable doubt.
The group said its review of proceedings already in the public domain revealed contradictions in testimony, gaps in documentary evidence and concerns over the handling of exhibits central to the prosecution’s case.
Speaking in Abuja, yesterday, the group’s National Secretary, Priscilla Makoshi Marcus, noted that the organisation’s intervention was based strictly on legal and procedural concerns.
She said that the London proceedings were narrower than years of sweeping allegations surrounding Nigeria’s petroleum sector and focused mainly on accommodation, travel, logistics, school fees and related expenses.
