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Hope Uzodimma, governor of Imo, has rejected suggestions that he could lose his All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial ticket.
Uzodimma spoke on Sunday after attending mass at the Government House Chapel in Owerri, the Imo state capital.
“If they tell you that I will hold this ticket and somebody will collect it and give it to another, tell the person it is a lie,” he said.
The governor also urged residents to campaign for the APC, declaring that his political camp would not support any other party in the forthcoming elections.
“Go and campaign for the party, our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). There is no other political party we are going with,” he said.
Uzodimma also identified the APC candidates he wants residents to support in the forthcoming legislative elections.
“For house of assembly, it is APC. For house of representatives, it is APC,” he said.
He named Patrick Ndubueze as the party’s candidate for the senate in Okigwe zone.
“For senate, your senator in Okigwe zone is Patrick Ndubueze, in Orlu zone it is my humble self (Hope Uzodimma), and in Owerri zone it is (Alex) Mbata,” he said.
The governor’s remarks come days after a federal high court in Abuja ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to delist him as the APC candidate for Imo west senatorial district and replace same with Rochas Okorocha, ex-governor of the state.
Obiora Egwuatu, the presiding judge, held that Okorocha secured majority of votes in the APC primary conducted on May 18.
The judge faulted INEC for accepting Uzodimma’s nomination despite what he described as “overwhelming documentary evidence that the governor did not win the primary”.
Okorocha, who governed Imo state from 2011 to 2019, had filed a suit in August challenging INEC’s recognition of Uzodimma as the APC candidate.
Reacting to the judgment, Okorocha described the ruling as a victory for Imo west residents and thanked President Bola Tinubu, claiming that the presidency was no longer supportive of the situation in Imo state.
He also commended the judiciary, saying the ruling showed that “justice is no longer for sale to the highest bidder”.
Uzodimma’s senatorial bid has elicited constitutional questions.
