A Senior Magistrate la Court sitting in Abuja, has issued a bench warrant for the arrest of former Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and Sen. Ifeanyi Araraume, for alleged criminal conspiracy, forgery, and tendering of false documents.
Also ordered to be arrested were Timothy Ama Chuks and Amen Okorocha, who were accused to have conspired with Rochas Okorocha to allegedly forge and tender false APC results, claiming to have been won by the former governor.
It said all police officers across Nigeria are, by the bench warrant, authorised to seize Okorocha, Araraume, Timothy Chuks and Amen Okorocha and produce them before the Senior Magistrate Court 3 at Jiwa, Abuja.
The arrest warrants came as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) asked both the police and the Department of State Services (DSS) to investigate Okorocha for allegedly parading fake All Progressives Congress (APC) primary results.
In the bench warrant dated September 09, 2026, the accused were charged with criminal conspiracy, forgery, and uttering false documents.
In the case numbers CR/M/JW/084/2026 and CR/M/JW/085/2026, the matter is between the Inspector-General of Police and the four wanted persons.
Meanwhile, INEC has disowned a document being circulated by Okorocha, claiming that he won the primaries.
It declared that the authentic document by APC before it showed that Governor Hope Uzodimma won the primaries, upon which his name was duly forwarded to it by the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the candidate for Imo West Senatorial Zone (Orlu zone).
In a strongly worded letter to the Commissioner of Police, Imo State Command, and his DSS counterpart, INEC declared the document being paraded by Okorocha as fake and urged the security agencies to investigate the former governor.
In the letter dated 8th October, 2026, and signed by the Resident Electoral Commissioner, Imo State, Chukwuemeka Ibeziako, INEC declared that it was reporting a case of “fraudulent and fictitious All Progressives Congress senatorial party primary report for Imo State dated 18th May, 2026.”
It raised the alarm that, contrary to the document duly signed by APC and forwarded to its headquarters with Uzodimma as the clear winner of the primary election, the one circulating on social media purported Okorocha as the winner; hence the petition.
“The fictitious document wrongly presented Senator Ethelbert Rochas Okorocha as the elected candidate for the party,” INEC said.
While enclosing the original results that declared Uzodimma as the rightful winner of the primary and the fake one being paraded by Okorocha, INEC urged the police and the DSS to thoroughly investigate the forgery.
“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.” INEC charged the police and the DSS. (Channels TV)
