New Telegraph

Probe fallout: Uzodimma, Okorocha at war

. Gov: You’ll account for N106bn

. Senator: You’ll account for N125.4bn

Shortly after the Commission of Inquiry into contracts awarded by the Imo State government from 2011 to 2019 submitted its report Monday to Governor Hope Uzodimma who declared his resolve to enforce its recommendations, a proxy war has erupted between the governor and his predecessor, both of whom are leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

 

The panel’s report had recommended that the former governor of the state and serving Senator, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and his former associates be made to refund the sum of N106 billion, a recommendation Okorocha’s followers tagged ‘irresponsible and unrealistic’.

 

In a swift reaction, however, Senator Rochas Okorocha, while repudiating the report of the panel, challenged Governor Hope Uzodimma to show good faith by first accounting for a total sum of N125.4 billion, being N119 billion Imo received from the federation account and N6.4bn oil derivation fund accruing to the Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (ISOPADEC), since January 14, 2020 when Uzodimma assumed office.

 

Okorocha said: “Governor Uzodinma should explain what he has done with the N119 billion he has collected from the federation account and N6.4 billion ISOPADEC fund. Vis-a-viz the IGR. The governor said he came through the ‘Ben Johnson’ way and since January 14, 2020 when he came on board, all his actions and utterances have been the ‘Ben Johnson’ way.”

 

Speaking through his  Special Adviser (Media), Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, the Senator representing Imo West also tasked the Uzodimma government to publish the said panel report as no serious panel would have made such recommendations as contained in the report.

 

The statement reads in part: “We challenge the government in Imo, led by Senator Hope Uzodinma to publish the Justice Benjamin Iheaka’s panel 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.

 

“No serious panel would have made such recommendations. 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.”

 

The statement noted that in just about 16 months after he left office that Imo people were already missing Senator Rochas Okorocha and have come to realize the difference between a ‘Capacity’ governor and a ‘Ben Johnson’ governor.

 

Listing the achievements of Okorocha the statement stressed that Uzodimma is intimidated by Okorocha’s achievements in office and is still battling for legitimacy and acceptance in Imo State.

 

Meanwhile, the Imo State government has clarified that the Justice Benjamin Iheaka Commission of Inquiry is specific on the administration of former Governor Rochas Okorocha.

 

This was contained in a statement issued Tuesday by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Oguwike Nwachuku which also exonerated former governors Achike Udenwa and Ikedi Ohakim of any culpability.

 

“The investigation covers the award of contracts during the period of Okorocha’s administration from 2011 to 2019 and not 2006 to 2019 as erroneously reported by some newspapers.

 

“The mix-up arising from the duration of the probe – 2011 to 2019 – and not -2006 to 2019 – is highly regretted,” the statement read.

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