A Federal High Court in Abuja has granted a member of the House of Representatives, Amobi Godwin Ogah, leave to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to prosecute the Minister of State for Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, for alleged forgery of election results in 62 polling units during the 2023 general elections.

Justice M.G. Umar of the Abuja Federal High Court, in his ruling dated September 23, 2025, on an ex-parte motion brought by Hon. Amobi Godwin Ogah, said he was satisfied that the applicant had placed relevant materials in his affidavit to warrant the judgment.

Onyejeocha had dragged Ogah, representing Isikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia State, to the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal after the 2023 elections, claiming victory.

But Ogah accused her of forging the results she tendered before the tribunal, and Onyejeocha eventually lost the case.

In April, Onyejeocha, through a media aide, told The Guardian that the allegation by the lawmaker was false.

“All the allegations in the petition are false. They are not only false, but also they have been trashed out long ago,” the minister said.

While Ogah contested on the platform of the Labour Party, Onyejeocha was the APC candidate in the election.

Ogah thereafter proceeded to the High Court seeking leave to apply for an Order of Mandamus against INEC to prosecute Onyejeocha, now a minister, for alleged forgery of results.

The lawmaker alleged that after he was declared winner of the federal constituency by INEC, “Hon. Nkeiruka Onyejeocha forged the results in respect of the polling units listed, whose results were tendered during the trial of the petition at the Election Tribunal to prove the allegations contained in the petition.

“That Hon. Nkeiruka Chidubem Onyejeocha forged Exhibit 3 and passed them off as the official election results and documents of the respondent, and the respondent vehemently disputed the authenticity of Exhibit 3 during the trial of the Election Petition.

“That Hon. Nkeiruka Chidubem Onyejeocha even attempted to deceive the judiciary by presenting the forged documents, i.e. Exhibit 3, to the Election Tribunal and Court of Appeal as documents that were issued by the respondent.”

In granting the lawmaker the go-ahead to apply to INEC for the prosecution of Onyejeocha, Justice Umar said: “I have considered Order 34 Rules 1, 3, and 4 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2019, upon which this application is based, and I am of the view that it is trite that in an application of this nature where the Court is required to exercise discretion, it must be so considered judicially and judiciously.

“Consequently, I am satisfied that the applicant (Ogah) has placed relevant materials in the affidavit in support of this application, and this Court is thereby persuaded to exercise discretion in favour of the applicant.

“An order is hereby made granting leave to the applicant to apply for an Order of Mandamus against the respondent, compelling the respondent (INEC) to investigate and prosecute Nkeiruka Chidubem Onyejeocha for the electoral offence of forging the election results of the polling units within the Isikwuato/Umunneochi Federal Constituency of Abia State.”