TheCable

Rochas Okorocha, former governor of Imo, says there are at least seven panels set up by the state government to probe his tenure.

The senator, who made the allegation in a statement by Sam Onwuemeodo, his spokesman, said the Uzodinma administration is seeking to blackmail him and his family.

He also alleged that a panel of the state government is disobeying an order of a federal high court in Abuja by continuing to carry out its probe against him.

“Unfortunately, and we want to complain that, in spite of the directive, the judicial panel headed by Justice BC Iheaka has continued to sit. It sat on Thursday, July 9, 2020, a day after Justice Mohammed gave the directive,” the statement issued on Thursday read.

“And all these are in desperation to get at Okorocha and the family. Otherwise, a judge ought to know that once a matter is before a court every other action on that matter should be suspended.

“We want to also make it clear that Okorocha has never been against his probe. But only taking exception to using the probe issue to diminish or discredit the more than one thousand verifiable projects of his administration, for the eight years he was governor. Or using the probe stuff to blackmail him and the family or conduct needless media trial.

“Okorocha’s contention is that while the 2nd defendant, the Attorney General of the state, had written petitions to the EFCC against him, and the Commission has been investigating all the issues in the petitions, the same issues are the ones being probed by the seven panels also set up by the same state government.

“And to Okorocha, and any sincere person, this is improper and questionable.”

The Imo state government had said it was reviewing all financial transactions of the state during the eight-year administration of Okorocha.

On May 10, a state committee said it uncovered N112.8 billion “dubious debts” owed the state by nine commercial banks.

The EFCC is also carrying out its own investigation and says it will prosecute the former governor.

Okorocha and Hope Uzodinma, governor of Imo state, both of the All Progressives Congress (APC), have been at loggerheads.