Okorocha Reacts To EFCC’s Sealing Of Properties Owned By Him And His Family Members In Imo
Rochas Okorocha has reacted to the sealing of properties owned by him
and his family members by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission
(EFCC).
Recall we reported yesterday that the anti-graft agency said they
sealed the properties owned by the former Imo State Governor and his
family members over their failure to appear for questioning.
Rochas Okorocha in the statement released on his belalf by his
Special Adviser on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo, claimed that most of the
sealed establishments preceded his emergence as Governor of Imo State.
He also debunked claims of EFCC’s invitation to Managements of the
Colleges and other establishments sealed.
Read the full statement below;
PRESS RELEASE
SUBJECT: SEALING OF ROCHAS FOUNDATION COLLEGE OWERRI WITH MORE THAN
THREE THOUSAND STUDENTS & OTHER INVESTMENTS, BY AGENTS OF ENUGU
OFFICE OF EFCC WITHOUT INVITATION OR INVESTIGATION.
-OBVIOUSLY, THE PDP GOVT. IN IMO INSTIGATED THE ACTION, WITH ALL THE
CHIEFTAINS OF THE PARTY WHO FELT POLITICALLY DISPLACED FROM 2011 TO 2019
& GOVERNOR IHEDIOHA LAUNCHING WAR AGAINST SENATOR ROCHAS OKOROCHA,
THE FAMILY AND OTHERS, IN THE STATE
On Tuesday, July 23, 2019, as at about 6am, Agents of the Economic
& Financial Crime Commission, EFCC, from its Office in Enugu with
Hilux buses loaded with armed military and mobile Policemen stormed the
Rochas Foundation College Owerri, with more than three thousand
students, and most of them, orphans, and sealed the College.
The Commission also sealed the East High College and Academy, Owerri
with Uloma Rochas Nwosu as the proprietor, among other investments
belonging to the former governor and family which the Commission Sealed.
The action of EFCC with the presence of heavily Armed Military and
Police Mobile Personnel frightened the students and most of them began
to cry. It was a sympathetic scenario.
What is obvious is that the PDP government in the State with Chief
Emeka Ihedioha as governor and all the PDP Chieftains who felt
politically displaced from 2011 to 2019 by Rochas Okorocha had come
together to launch war against Rochas and his family. And APC members.
And that was why they needed INEC to declare their Candidate winner even
when he didn’t meet the requirement. Unfortunately, they have
instigated certain agencies like EFCC into taking some hasty actions
following flood of petitions by them.
Our concern about the action of the EFCC is the approach. There was
no prior invitation to the Managements or Proprietors of the Colleges
and other establishments sealed by the Commission as expected before
such action. To the best of our knowledge too, these Colleges have not
been under the investigation of the Commission. We have had the feeling
that the Sealing of the Colleges or any other structure as the case
maybe, would have been based on the outcome of their investigation in
which the managements or the proprietors would have also been
interrogated.
Sealing the colleges and other properties because they belong to
Rochas Okorocha’s family before investigation is what is difficult for
us to comprehend especially when most of these establishments had
preceded the governorship of Rochas Okorocha.
The Rochas Foundation Colleges have existed in Imo and in several
states of the Federation including Plateau, Kano, Sokoto, Kaduna, Oyo,
Bauchi and so on, years before Okorocha’s governorship. And the EFCC may
also go to those states outside Imo to seal the rest of the Colleges.
What is happening in Imo at the moment is not governance. It is a
total war against Rochas and his family, APC members, members of other
parties and Opponents. They said they want to make the State
uncomfortable for Opponents and they are doing it with recklessness.
It should also not be forgotten that there is a subsisting Court
Order to this effect. And we believe that the Commission’s office in
Enugu is aware of the Court Order in question as it concerns the
Commission and Okorocha’s investments. The EFCC is a highly responsible
Institution and our appeal is that it should not be incited against
Okorocha and family and should equally take cognizance of the Court
Order in question.
Senator Rochas Okorocha and family believe strongly in the State and
have relocated most of their businesses to Owerri unlike these PDP
bigwigs who do not love the State, with all of them having nothing to
show that they have a stake in the State.
We want to appeal to the EFCC to unseal the Colleges and other
ventures they had sealed pending the outcome of the investigation they
said they have begun. And also considering the stand of the Court of
Competent Jurisdiction on the issue.
The students of the Colleges, most of them without parents, cannot
be allowed to suffer because of the action of a wicked government in the
State. It is not all about Rochas Okorocha and the family, but about
humanity and posterity.
Rochas is the true owner of the colleage.