THISDAY

Okorocha Challenges Ihedioha to Provide Details on Missing N6bn

- Adedayo Akinwale

Former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, has challenged the incumbent state Governor, Emeka Ihedioha, to provide details of how he claimed he allegedly diverted the sum of N6 billion fund allocated to the state Oil Producing Area Developmen­t Commission (ISOPADEC).

Okorocha was indicted for alleged misappropr­iation of N6, 044, 774, 341. 37 being fund allocated to ISOPADEC in a report by a committee set up to investigat­e the activities of the Commission from May 2011 to May 2019, which was submitted to the governor last Wednesday.

But, Okorocha in a statement issued yesterday by his Special Adviser on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo, said he was never invited by the ‘Boys Oyee’ panel set up by the state government.

The All Progressiv­es Congress (APC) chieftain explained that Ihedioha’s government had written 32 petitions to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and 15 petitions to the Independen­t Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) against him and his family.

Okorocha, who represents Imo West senatorial district in the Senate, noted that the “questionab­le panel” on ISOPADEC was a smokescree­n because a serious panel would have invited him or any of the former chairmen or managing directors of the Commission under his administra­tion for questionin­g or fact-finding.

He said: “The panel never did that because it was only packaged for blackmail. Part of the unwarrante­d wars against Okorocha was the so-called ISOPADEC report which claimed that the former governor diverted N6billion of the Commission and the panel never gave details of how it arrived at that.”

The former governor stated that in all honesty, Ihedioha should have, as usual, found his way back to the House of Representa­tives to continue with his areas of specialisa­tion, which included over-sight functions and constituen­cy projects business, “because he has shown that he does not have the needed capacity to govern a highly enlightene­d state like Imo.”

 ??  ?? L-R: Imo State Governor, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha; Vice President Yemi Osibanjo; and his wife, Dolapo at the Sam Mbakwe Internatio­nal Cargo Airport, Owerri, on arrival for a function in Imo State…yesterday
L-R: Imo State Governor, Hon. Emeka Ihedioha; Vice President Yemi Osibanjo; and his wife, Dolapo at the Sam Mbakwe Internatio­nal Cargo Airport, Owerri, on arrival for a function in Imo State…yesterday

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