By Emma Ogbuehi
In a riposte to an allegation of N106billion fraud purported to have occurred during his administration of the state, former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, has asked his successor, Hope Uzodinma, to wake up to the demands of governance in the state and stop chasing shadows.
Okorocha’s call was disclosed in a statement issued by his media aide, Sam Onwuemeodo.
A Panel of inquiry on contracts from 2011 to 2019 headed by Justice Benjamin Iheaka which submitted its report to Governor Uzodimma, had indicted the Okorocha administration of mismanaging the sum. The former governor, who currently represents Imo West Senatorial District in the National Assembly, however dismissed the allegation, challenging his successor to make a verbatim report of the panel public.
“We challenge the government in Imo, led by Senator Hope Uzodinma to publish the Iheaka report verbatim, so that Imo people in particular and Nigerians in general, could read the report and see how the Panel arrived at N106 billion, which they said that Senator Okorocha should refund,” the statement partly read.
“Again, Governor Uzodinma should please wake-up. Your Excellency, wake- up. Time does not wait for anybody especially in governance. You cannot tell Imo people that your achievements at the end of the day is pursuing Okorocha, to satisfy those behind you.
“This is the first government in the history of the State to take off with non-payment of Salaries and having issues with every sector in the State. The governor should face governance and leave Controversies because they do not add up.”
Okorocha argued that no serious panel would have made such recommendation, stressing, “It could only take a “Ben Johnson” Panel to do that. And let the government publish the list of contractors who handled contracts under Okorocha, State the contracts they did, how much they were paid respectively, how they were paid and what they should have been paid, in the estimation of the Panel members.
He challenged Governor Uzodinma to explain what he has done with the N119 billion he has collected from the federation account and N6.4 billion ISOPADEC fund.
Okorocha claimed that as governor, he had more than one thousand projects to his credit and nobody, including the government in Imo has said it is not true or has openly challenged him to publish the projects because they know that the projects exist. “And if they exist, how would have someone made away with N106 Billion and still do such befitting projects”, he said.
He accused Uzodinma of chasing shadows in face of the daunting challenges of governance.
