INEC Asks DSS, Police to Probe Document Naming Okorocha as APC Senatorial Primary Winner

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has petitioned the Department of State Services (DSS) and the police over a circulating document it describes as a fictitious All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primary result report.

In separate letters dated October 5 and 8, 2026, Chukwuemeka Ibeziako, resident electoral commissioner (REC) in Imo, asked the security agencies to investigate a document circulating on social media that lists Rochas Okorocha, former Imo governor, as the winner of the APC primary for Imo west senatorial district.

The REC said the document contradicted the result report signed and forwarded to INEC’s national headquarters, which listed Hope Uzodimma, Imo state governor, as the party’s duly elected candidate.

In the letter to the DSS state director, dated October 5, Ibeziako said his attention was drawn to the document circulating on social media.

He said the authentic report, dated May 18, 2026, identified Uzodimma as the winner of the primary election for Imo west senatorial district.

“Unfortunately, the fictitious document wrongfully presented Senator Ethelbert Rochas Okorocha as the elected candidate for the Party,” the letter reads.

Ibeziako said he attached a copy of the report held by his office as “Annexure A” and the disputed document as “Annexure B”.

He urged the DSS to investigate the matter, warning that the circulation of the document had the potential to cause a breakdown of law and order in Imo state.

The REC repeated the complaint in a second letter addressed to the commissioner of police in Imo state on October 8.

The complaint comes amid a legal dispute between Okorocha and INEC over the APC ticket for Imo west ahead of the 2027 general election.

Okorocha sued INEC, Uzodimma and the APC at the federal high court in Abuja over the commission’s publication of Uzodimma’s name as the party’s candidate for the senatorial district.

In his suit, Okorocha asked the court to determine whether INEC was bound by the reports of its officers who monitored the May 18 primary.

He also asked the court to determine whether the publication of Uzodimma’s name as the winner was wrongful, citing section 183 of the 1999 Constitution, which bars a sitting governor from holding another executive office or paid employment while in office.