TheCable

Rochas Okorocha, former governor of Imo state, says the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) never recovered N7.9 billion from him.

Okorocha was reacting to a statement credited to Imam Usman, zonal head of the EFCC Port Harcourt office, on Thursday, that the commission has returned N2.7 billion out of the N7.9 billion allegedly recovered from the former governor to the state government.

In a statement on Friday, Sam Onwuemeodo, Okorocha’s spokesperson, said the EFCC was misinformed to peddle falsehood against the former governor.

He asked the anti-graft agency to publish details and owners of the accounts where the money said to have been recovered from him was domiciled.

“The EFCC as a commission or Mr Usman Imam as a person and Head of Enugu zone then, and today, that of Port Harcourt Zone, of the commission, never recovered N7.9 billion or any other amount of money, from Rochas Okorocha,” Onwuemeodo said.

“With this denial, we therefore challenge EFCC or Mr. Imam as the one who made the claim, to prove us wrong by publishing details of the bank accounts the money was found and the owners of the accounts.

“We hold the EFCC and its personnel in a very high esteem. And we expect the commission or Mr. Imam to take our denial very serious, because Nigerians of goodwill would like to know who is saying the truth or who is lying.

“Where the commission finds out that it had misinformed the public and had also blackmailed the former Imo governor, perhaps unconsciously, we expect the commission or Mr. Imam to do the needful, which is to retract the media statement and then tell Nigerians the correct story. The N7.9 billion in question must be in bank accounts. Let the EFCC publish the accounts’ details without delay”.

“Mr Imam talked about properties owned by Okorocha which the commission had marked. It is also important that Mr. Imam publish those properties because the properties marked had been acquired by Okorocha about twenty years ago.”