Hope Uzodinma, Governor of Imo State, has claimed that he is not in good terms with Senator Rochas Okorocha because he declined to dissolve the probe panels investigating the former state governor.
Governor Uzodinma revealed this in a statement issued by his media office on Sunday.
Emeka Ihedioha, the immediate past governor of the state, had constituted investigative panels to probe the eight-year administration of Okorocha from 2011 to 2019.
The governor also claimed that he fell out with Okorocha, who currently represents Imo West Senatorial District, because he (Uzodinma) refused to instigate the removal of the state APC Chairman.
The statement read: “There were two requests Okorocha made to me when I became governor. The first was to dissolve the panels set up by Ihedioha to probe his administration. I refused to grant the request because I think the mood of the Imo people was in support of the probe.
“The second request was to allow Dan Nwafor to remain chairman of APC in the State.
“I also declined that request and told him that the party rules were there to guide everyone on the matter.”
Governor Uzodinma alleged that Okorocha made the request to pave the way for his ambition to run for the presidency in 2023.
But Okorocha, in a statement by his media aide, Jones Onwuasanaya, debunked the allegation, saying he never made such an appeal.
According to the former governor, he only requested for the setting up of an impartial panel and the right to a fair hearing.
“Owelle utilised his mandate judiciously and kept to his covenant with God and man, in his eight years as the governor of Imo State
“What Okorocha has always requested, for which he has gone to court is that impartial panels should be constituted to probe his stewardship and not the present situation, where key stakeholders of the opposition People’s Democratic Party constitute 95 per cent of the membership of the panels probing him,” the statement read.
Discussion about this post