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Crisis of integrity hunts Okorocha’s govt

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Crisis of integrity hunts Okorocha’s govt

Crisis of integrity continues to hunt Governor Rochas Okorocha’s government as an Appeal Court sitting in Owerri on Monday, ordered the freezing of the state government’s account over a debt of N1 billion.

Earlier in May this year, the Imo State governor was accused of mismanaging N26 billion bail-out fund granted the state government by the Federal Government in April.

The latest event which casts a doubt on the integrity of Okorocha’s administration came up after the governor approached the Appeal Court in Owerri demanding that it should upturn a previous ruling by Hon. Justice Maryann Anenih of Maitama High Court, Abuja, and Hon. Justice Ijeoma Agugua, in suit numbers FCT/HC/M/9257/2016 and HU/538/2011, instituted by one of its contractors, E. F. Network Nigeria Limited and Mr Gideon Egbuchulam who claimed the state owed them N1 billion.

However, Okorocha got a hard knock as the Appeal Court upheld the earlier judgment and ordered the freezing of the state funds. The court also held that the money in the state’s account should be used to offset the N1 billion debt owed E. F. Network Nigeria Limited and Egbuchulam.

This is not the first time the integrity of Okorocha’s government was in doubt.

In May, one of the country’s anti-graft agencies, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), in its report signed by Mustapha Hussain on behalf of the Commissioner, Public Enlightenment, had then widely alleged that “Imo State applied for and received bailout funds of N26, 806, 430, 000.00 from the Central Bank of Nigeria which were domiciled with two commercial banks namely Fidelity and Zenith banks.

“In the course of analysis, it was discovered that some transfers were made into certain Imo State Government accounts which are not related to salaries and emoluments as follows: N2bn paid into a Government Account; N2bn into an Imo State Project account; N2bn transferred into microfinance bank; and a management fee of N21, 017, 810.00 was paid into an unspecified account”, the statement noted.

The bail-out funds which totaled N338 billion was giving to 27 states which were unable to pay salaries by the Federal Government as an assistant. The case remains fully unresolved, at least in the eyes of the public.

Read also: Security vote is part of corruption, cancel it, Ribadu says

Before the alleged mismanagement of N26 billion bail-out fund, the Okorocha administration had to contend with the arrest of his Principal Secretary, Dr Pascal Obi and two others, Uzoho Casmir and Iheoma Kenneth, director of finance and treasurer respectively, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Only last weekend, the Imo State governor inaugurated an Amnesty Committee and appointed his wife, Nneoma Nkechi Okorocha as chairman after some militants allegedly surrendered arms to the state.

Already, critics have continued to question the rationale of the arms submission, especially as so many of the acclaimed militants appeared as jesters.

There are also insinuations that the governor’s appointment of his wife as the amnesty chairman was a strategic plot to put state resources in her care.

By Ebere Ndukwu …

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

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