Accusations and counter accusations are currently riding high in Imo State between former Governor, Rochas Okorocha and his successor, Emeka Ihedioha over the claim by the former that his daughter was physically manhandled by officials of the present government in Imo State on Friday.
Okorocha, specifically claims that members of the committee on recovery of stolen state government assets actually slapped his daughter, Uloma Nwosu, wife of the Action Alliance (AA) governorship candidate in the just concluded general election, demanding an immediate apology.
Okorocha’s statement on the matter through his spokesman, Sam Onwuemedo, read: “On Friday, July 26, 2019, a member of the Committee on Recovery of Government Property set up by Governor Emeka Ihedioha and led by Mr. Jasper Ndubuaku slapped the daughter of the former governor of Imo State, Mrs. Uloma Rochas Okorocha when she went to the “ALL-IN” furniture store owned by the mother, to know why members of the committee invaded the store and began to tamper with the items including the ones inside the Containers especially when the EFCC had marked the shop for investigation also following their petitions to that effect.
“Three days after the ugly incident, neither the governor nor the government he heads or even the head of the Committee, has deemed it necessary to apologise to the woman, the family and the former governor. And they have not denied knowledge of the ugly incident, like they had denied knowledge of similar cases in the past.
“It has therefore become necessary to ask the governor and his government to apologise to Mrs. Uloma Rochas Nwosu, the family and the former governor. It is even more disturbing that instead of doing the needful, the government dished out a very heartless falsehood, that mob wanted to lynch Mrs. Nwosu and their media collaborators who they had assembled the previous week and struck an ungodly deal with them, went to town with such unfounded story.
“In the history of Imo State, since its creation, Rochas Okorocha is the only person who had governed the state and after leaving office, the children stayed behind in Owerri to run their businesses without police escort and also move freely.
“The daughters have their shops in Owerri and are physically managing them. The first son, Aham Rochas Okorocha has his barbing Saloon along MCC/Uratta road and also managing it. No Imo man or woman can raise a finger against any member of Okorocha’s family.
“The achievements of Rochas Okorocha are available and verifiable. And that is why the PDP government’s efforts to blackmail the former governor have continued to hit the rock.
“The Ndubuaku-led Committee has no template. And that is why they storm private houses, offices and shops under the guise that they have come to recover government’s property.
“They do not have the list of what to recover. And they do not take inventory of what they carry away in the name of recovery. In other words, they can carry everything in someone’s house and say they are government property.
“In the case of Rochas Okorocha in 2011, he gave the Committee two weeks to recover government vehicles in the “hands of unauthorised persons”. The mission of that Committee was defined. And it was not targeted at Chief Ikedi Ohakim or Chief Achike Udenwa. But today, the governor gave the Committee open cheque to fill themselves.
“For the 8 years Okorocha was governor, he never used his power as governor against any Imo man or woman. Or against opponents. But the reverse is the case today. The governor has enthroned fear in the state and the feeling is that if nothing is done to call him to order, he may begin to deal with the ordinary people after Okorocha’s family.
“The government has not done anything. Its policy at the moment is to blackmail Okorocha by every means possible, blackmail his family and his achievements. They have as a State policy removed all the things Okorocha had used to beautify Owerri, the State Capital.”
Ihedioha, has, however, vowed that ‘blackmail’ by Okorocha would not deter him from recovering movable government assets his government looted from the state during his tenure, while denying the assault allegation.
Steve Osuji, the governor’s spokesman, while stating the position of government, was quoted as saying that no appointee of the governor slapped Okorocha’s daughter, daring the ex-governor to challenge the matter in court.
His words: “We are not aware that such thing happened. We are not unruly like them. If they are sure of what they are saying, let them go to court. They know the right thing to do.”
