Imo: Okorocha Backs Down, Wants Peace With Uzodimma |The Source

By Charles Igbo

Former Imo State Governor, and Senator representing Imo West, Rochas Okorocha, seem to have backed down from his threats over his seized properties in Imo by the Imo State Government. He is now preaching peace.

“But for what has been done to me, I am human, I can bear it just for the  purpose of peace to reign”, he told State House Correspondents in Abuja on Wednesday, March 10, 2021.

Okorocha had gone to the State House to see Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, and even though he told the Correspondents that he went to say hello to the VP, it is believed that his visit was over his feud with Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State.

The very cold relationship between the two, which dates back to the contest for the Imo Governorship election in 2019, and  has been neither here nor there since Uzodinma was sworn-in as Governor, worsened when Uzodimma refused to disband the various Judicial Commissions and Panels of Inquiry into the Okorocha administration which he inherited from former Governor Emeka Ihedioha.

Uzodinma had come under pressure from Okorocha to disband the Commissions and Panels, accusing Ihedioha of witch hunt, but met a brick wall when  Uzodimma insisted they were for the good of the state and refused to disband them, to the anger of Okorocha.

It is the implementation of the Whitepaper paper based on the reports of the Commissions/Panels that has raised the ante of their feud.

A couple of weeks ago, the State Government had sealed and seized a multi-billion Naira Luxury Estate, Royal Palm Apartments & Hotels, belonging to Okorocha’s wife, Nkechi. But to the consternation of most Imolites, Okorocha, along with his sons-in-law, aides and supporters, went and unsealed the Estate, broke the key to the gate in a bid to repossess the property. In a viral video, Okorocha was seen and overheard, along with one of his sons-in-law, commanding his followers to break the keys to the gate, and unseal the property. “I Will sleep inside here today”, he said.

They were confronted by Government officials. Policemen arrived the scene later, and  arrested 15 of them, including Okorocha.

They were, thereafter, detained at the CID section of the Owerri Police Command. The next day, 14 of them were charged to Court. But Okorocha, who was released in the early hours of Monday, due to pressure from above, and alleged ill-health, was supposed to appear in Court, as he promised, by 10.00am, did not show up. Instead, he addressed his supporters at his Owerri residence, castigating  the Governor.

Days before the incident at the Royal PalmEstate, the State Government had, also, recovered the Eastern Palm University, a State approved University, which Okorocha appropriated to himself  insisting that his Foundation  entered into partnership with the State Government over the University.

According to him, his Foundation owns a 90 percent stake, while Imo State Government owns a paltry 10 per cent.

However, the Panel of Inquiry on Lands and Other Related Matters discovered that not only was the University approved for the State, Okorocha allegedly funded its development to the tune of N20 billion Naira, from the State Treasury.

Since the Government began the implementation of the White Paper on one of the Panels – Lands and Other Related Matters, Okorocha has been running helter skelter in a bid to stop its implementation. This magazine gathered that he has been visiting a number  of high profile individuals across the country to put pressure on Uzodinma to stop.

On Wednesday, it was the turn of Vice President Osinbajo to listen to him.

Addressing State House Correspondents, later, Okorocha said he wanted peace. But, in another breath, said he was unaware of what he did wrong. He said he was being persecuted. He said his son-in- law won the 2019 Governorship election, but was denied the office. He said he brought his children to invest in the State, instead of investing abroad.

He said he was yet to be told the exact offence he committed.

He said that initially, the State Government had claimed he funded a number of the properties with State funds, but is now saying that he built them on parcels of land meant for the new Government House, and verge area.

He said he was Okorocha before he became Governor, and still remains Okorocha after being Governor. Meaning that he has always been rich.

However, the questions being asked by Imolites, which answers Okorocha did not give State House Correspondents are; What were Okorocha’s wife  children, siblings and sons-in-law doing before he became Governor? How much was each of them worth? From where did they get funds to acquire the hundreds of billions of Naira  worth of properties and solid investments, scattered all over the State, especially in Owerri, the State capital?

How did they manage to acquire all that prime land in  Owerri Municipal and environs?

Dan Nwanyanwu, an Imo son, and Chairman of the Zenith Labour Party, ZLP, in a recent interview said he was shocked to hear Okorocha claiming this other day that he was richer than the State.

Nwanyanwu, former Chairman of  the Labour Party, LP, where Okorocha was, also, a member, said that the former Governor, in the months ieading to the 2011 Governorship election, did not have enough funds to prosecute the election. “He came to me”, Nwanyanwu said, “and said he didn’t have the upto  N10 million Naira with him. He said for that, he would defect to APGA, which already had a structure,” Nwanyanwu’s worry then:

“How did, Okorocha, suddenly acquire so much money to be richer than the state?”

However, Okorocha who told  the Correspondents that he made a sacrifice by becoming a Governor will not reject an intervention for peace  between him and Governor Uzodinma. Asked by the Correspondents if there is a possibility of his party, the APC, intervening since he and the Governor belong to the same party, he said it was his expectation.

He wants peace in the State, he said.

However, a cross section of Imo people say they would not  support any reconciliation that would allow Okorocha get away with his alleged “loot” of the State.

At a recent stakeholders meeting in Owerri, attendees  which cut across every who is who in the State, mandated the Governor to recover every property, every kobo, that belongs to the State, taken away by anybody, no matter how highly placed. And so did Imo Elders, and Traditional Rulers from Orlu Zone, the Zone to which Uzodinma and Okorocha belong.

Warning Uzodinma or anybody who would dare intervene, and ask that an agreement be reached with Okorocha, in order to forgive  him, or leave the “loot” for him, Nwanyanwu said ” Aside from that not being possible, it will be an unforgivable sin against the State and the people of Imo State”