Imo APC Chieftain Dumps Party’s Senate Candidate, Backs APP

In a major political twist, a leader and prominent figure in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Imo State, High Chief Bona Nlemadim, has declared his support for the Action People’s Party (APP) candidate for the Owerri Zone senatorial seat, citing decades of exclusion and a broken zoning agreement.

Nlemadim, an APC member since 2014, made his position known in a letter dated June 25, 2026, addressed to party members in Ngor Okpala Local Government Area.

He stated clearly that he is backing Dr Chima Matthew Amadi of the Action Peoples Party, stating that the move is not all about defection but more of making a choice for the community over the party.

Nlemadim’s grievance centres on the Owerri Zone senatorial seat, which he writes has “eluded us since 1999,” with no son or daughter of Ngor Okpala ever holding it.

The immediate trigger was the APC’s consensus primary, where Ngor Okpala had rallied behind Dr Chijioke Kaduru, a businessman whose Nkwachikwere Foundation spent over two years touring the zone. Nlemadim described Kaduru as a man of integrity and resources, but the hopes collapsed when the ticket was “Returned to Owerri North,” where Senator Ezenwa Onyenwuchi has held the seat for seven years.

He argues that the outcome violated the Imo Charter of Equity, a zoning understanding he attributes to Governor Hope Uzodimma, and writes bluntly that the charter “was jettisoned.”

The veteran party man did not stop at the Senate. He notes that Ngor Okpala was also denied the House of Representatives ticket, deepening the sense of exclusion.

He then ties the political grievance to a physical one, writing that after more than fourteen years of APC government, residents still “cannot drive from Orie Nguru to Umuewere, a distance of one kilometre.” The complaint is not abstract marginalisation but a verifiable road that has not been built for years.

He is equally skeptical of talks that the governorship ticket could be ceded to Ngor Okpala, saying, “I must restrain myself from such an illusion,” implying that such promises have been made before and not kept. His cumulative argument is that loyalty has not paid dividends.
“The gains of democracy have completely eluded us despite our loyalty,” he wrote.

Nlemadim, however, did not renounce the APC entirely. He restates that he will vote for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the coming election and encourages his followers to do the same.

His grievance is local, not national. But on the Senate race, he draws a hard line: “Patriotism and love for my people and their welfare far exceed my love and loyalty for the party.”

From that premise, he commits to backing “any son or daughter of Ngor Okpala who secures a ticket,” regardless of party label.

Chief Chima Madi is the candidate favoured by Nlemadim, whom he endorsed as “the first Ngor Okpala man to secure a senatorial ticket” on any party platform, describing him as a man of intellect, integrity and resources whose goodwill cuts across party lines.

He appeals to fellow indigenes to “rally around Chief Chima Amadi and think beyond party loyalty.”

Nlemadim announced his “sabbatical leave” from the APC to devote himself to Chima Amadi’s Senatorial Project.