Witness narrates how Ex-HoS, allies diverted public funds to private companies in court
Court orders final forfeiture of Okorocha’s properties to Imo govt
Modupe Shodeinde
An Imo State High Court sitting in Owerri has ordered final forfeiture of all property of former Governor Rochas Okorocha to the state government.
The Senator representing Imo West Senatorial Zone, and his family, are to permanently forfeit to the Imo State Government, over 500 properties acquired by them between 2011 and 2019.
According to the presiding judge, Justice Fred Njemanze, Okorocha failed to give concrete and verifiable reasons why a final and absolute forfeiture order should not be given in favour of the Imo State government.
He also held that the application against the government by Okorocha’s lawyers was not properly filed. He described it as a “surplusage,” a term in law which means a useless statement completely irrelevant to a matter.
Njemanze maintained that the White Paper by the government is a legal binding document.
But Okorocha’s lead counsel, Oba Maduabuchi, vowed to challenge the judgment in a higher court. He described the verdict as “perfidy of justice,” saying that “even a primary school pupil knows that it cannot stand.
He further said he was baffled that the judge went ahead to give judgment even when they had agreed a date for the ruling on their pending application.
His words: “ I’m baffled. On Friday, a text message came from the judge that he would deliver his ruling on Monday(yesterday) or Tuesday. But because of the sit-at-home order by IPOB (Indegenous People of Biafra) we agreed for Tuesday(today). I was shocked when my colleague told me that they have delivered a ruling,; not just a ruling but a judgment
“We had earlier on Tuesday last week argued the objections I raised on the processes filled by Imo State Government. The judge said he reserved his ruling and when ruling is reserved ,it means that no particular date is fixed . Usually when it (ruling) is ready, parties are informed.”
