Former Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, has questioned the legitimacy of many Nigerian politicians, claiming that 90 per cent of those currently holding public offices would not have emerged if democracy were practised properly.
Okorocha made the assertion during an interview with Arise News on Thursday while reacting to the Federal High Court judgment nullifying Governor Hope Uzodimma’s emergence as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Imo West Senatorial District in the 2027 general elections.
The court had declared Okorocha the winner of the party’s May 18, 2026, senatorial primary and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise him as the party’s candidate.
“If democracy is practised the way it should be practised, 90 per cent of people holding office in Nigeria cannot hold office,” he said.
The former governor argued that the country’s political system had been weakened by the imposition of candidates, insisting that many politicians in public office did not secure their positions through the genuine choice of the electorate.
“Most of them are not truly the choice of people. These are people who are imposed, opportunists, who find their way,” he said.
Okorocha maintained that the court judgment was significant beyond his personal political ambition, describing it as an important intervention in addressing irregularities surrounding party primaries and the electoral process.
He said his satisfaction with the judgment was not primarily because he had been declared the winner but because it had brought attention to what he described as misinformation surrounding the disputed primary election.
“My joy is not on the basis that I was declared a winner, but for the fact that so many misinformations paraded in the news media,” he said.
Addressing conflicting documents and figures relating to the primary election, Okorocha questioned the authenticity of records that credited Uzodimma with 230,464 votes and him with 1,098 votes, while another document reportedly showed him polling 150,780 votes.
He said he obtained certified documents from INEC on July 22, 2026, and questioned the emergence of another document dated August 22, which he attributed to Uzodimma.
The former governor insisted that the evidence supporting his position was clear, declaring that “the facts are too glaring.”
Meanwhile, Uzodimma has indicated his intention to appeal the judgment.
Okorocha, however, maintained that the dispute was about more than his political ambition, stressing that the ultimate concern should be the interests and choices of the people.
“It’s about the people,” he said.
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