TheCable

Rochas Okorocha, former governor of Imo, says he doesn’t want the “unusual situation” between him and Hope Uzodimma, his successor, to generate tension in the state.

The feud between Okorocha and Uzodimma was rekindled in February, when the former governor was arrested for unsealing a property seized by the state government.

Speaking after a meeting with Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo on Wednesday, Okorocha told journalists that he would not want an escalation of the conflict arising from the sealing of some of his properties.

“The question is ‘what wrong has Rochas done?’ Have I done any wrong bringing APC to the south-east? And when I built APC, none of these people were there. They were all in PDP,” he said.

“Was it wrong that I encouraged my family to invest in their state, rather than investing abroad? I asked nothing of the government. I simply wanted to live my free life. But it is for he that accuses to prove.

“What preoccupies my mind is to make sure that we don’t create tension in the state, because already this country has a lot of insecurity. And police that ought to be busy doing something else should not be busy going to guide the sealing of a property with a white paper stronger than court judgment.

“Can a governor use a white paper to execute a judgment? Can you be a judge in your own case? These are the questions begging for answers, and why the use of thugs to attack your immediate predecessor and a senator of the federal republic?

“What are you trying to achieve? Now that you have arrested him, or forced him to police station with thugs, what have you achieved? What is the case against him? Nothing.

“That is why I described it as a very unusual situation. I think it is a script that is playing out, and this script has been for too long.”

He condemned the sealing of some of his properties in Imo, adding that he didn’t understand why he was being “attacked”.

“I am still waiting to understand the reason why all the attack because before, the allegation was that the money used in building was government money,” Okorocha said.

“Now it has changed; it is no longer the issue of government money, but that it is built on the green verge and allocation where government house was supposed to be built. I am still waiting and only time will tell.

“But let it be known that I was Rochas Okorocha before governor, and I am still Rochas Okorocha after governor. Government House never made me. I was who I was before becoming governor. Rather, I would say that becoming governor was a sacrifice on my own part.

“But talking about the properties in question — the schools, the East High College, Rochas Foundation College, the Royal Spring Palm Hotel and the university — these outfits are all charitable outfits for the Rochas Foundation. And I brought them back home as a sign of investment to encourage investment in my own state, where I come from.

“So, the allegation that it is built on the green verge or built where Government House was supposed to be built is neither here nor there. It is rather trying to make excuses to carry out an already planned attack.”