Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has reacted to his reported arrest, alongside his wife on Thursday.
Report went viral on Thursday that the Governor and his wife were arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
The EFCC has, however, denied arresting the Governor in a telephone chat with DAILY POST.
In a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo, Okorocha denied the arrest, describing it as propaganda by the present government.
The statement read, “We have read on-line including some print media on-line platforms that the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) has arrested the former Governor of Imo State, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, the wife, Nneoma Nkechi Okorocha, and one of the brothers, Okey Okorocha, today, being Thursday, May 30, 2019.
“We won’t delay to State that the story of their arrest is not true. It is totally false. It has no iota or atom of truth. Simply put, former Governor Rochas Okorocha, the wife Nneoma and brother Okey, have not been arrested by the Crime Commission. This is the truth of the matter.
“The fact is that the new PDP government in the State has decided not to toe the path of honour but has decided to continue the old way of the party, by trading on lies or falsehood. They call it propaganda.
“The new government is behind the false story. They even called some media editors to make the story headline.
“We only want to ask them to leave responsible institutions or establishments like EFCC out of their dirty tracks especially in dishing out their lies.
“The PDP in the State had written and sponsored a lot of petitions to agencies and Commissions against the former governor. They had told their supporters that the former governor would be whisked away by the EFCC hours after the inauguration on May 29, 2019 and that is the reason behind this falsehood.
“We Contend that EFCC is a National Institution and established by the law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If they invite the former governor or the wife or any member of his family for interrogation in the course of their investigation, arising from the PDP’s Petitions they would honour such invitations. And if the Commission decides to also come for any reason, they are also on the right path since it is on a national assignment.
“So, the PDP or any other group or persons should not give the EFCC the image of an enemy to the people. They should not be dragging EFCC into their dirty politics. The Commission is not at war with anybody and they PDP should not create that impression about the Commission.
“We want to also use this opportunity to inform the general public that 24hrs after inauguration, the new PDP government in the State carried out its first assignment on Thursday, May 30, 2019 (today) by demolishing “Akachi” (the symbolic hand of God) erected by the former governor. This is suspicious. They have also changed the Imo Trade and Investment Centre to “Ahiajoku”. The former governor had taken certain steps to bring Imo people more closer to God. We have also heard that they want to close the Government House Chapel. In all these we only want to say “Time will Tell”.”
“Again, let me inform also that the former governor has asked me to continue as his media aide. I am now the Special Adviser on media to the former. All to the glory of God.”
