Former Imo State Governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha, has denied reports that a court ordered his arrest, alongside Senator Ifeanyi Araraume and others, over alleged criminal conspiracy and forgery.
Okorocha’s position was conveyed in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary and Special Adviser on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo.
The statement described the reports as false, challenging those behind the claims to produce the alleged court order authorising the arrests.
According to Onwuemeodo, the report gained traction after Hon. Ambrose Nwaogwugwu, a media aide to Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, circulated a video on the matter, which was subsequently picked up by other media organisations, including ARISE TV.
He said the reports claimed that a Senior Magistrate Court sitting in Abuja had issued a bench warrant dated September 9, 2026, for the arrest of Okorocha, Araraume and others.
The reports also linked the alleged warrant to a petition reportedly written by the Independent National Electoral Commission’s Resident Electoral Commissioner in Imo State, Barrister Chukwuemeka Ibejiako, to the police and the Department of State Services on October 8, 2026.
However, Okorocha, through his media aide, insisted that no such order had been issued by any court.
“We want to strongly state, and we stand to be contradicted, that no court, whether that of a Senior Magistrate or High Court, ordered or issued any bench warrant for the arrest of Okorocha,” the statement said.
The former governor further gave the media organisations that published the report 48 hours to produce or publish the purported court order.
He warned that failure to provide the document should compel the affected outlets to retract their reports and tender an apology to those concerned.
Onwuemeodo also questioned the chronology of events surrounding the allegation, pointing out that the purported bench warrant was reportedly dated September 9, while the petition attributed to the Imo REC was dated October 8, 2026.
He argued that the discrepancy raised questions about the credibility of the reports, given that the alleged court order predated the petition said to have prompted it.
