From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
The many running battles of former governor of Imo State Senator Rochas Okorocha keep escalating, with his latest being the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) allegedly declaring his Rochas Foundation moribund.
This comes a few months after his controversial bid to take over the Eastern Palm University he claimed to have 90 per cent possession of, in Ogboko, ran into hitches.
According to statement by a group of concerned Imo citizens, reliable information obtained from the CAC indicate that contrary to the senator’s claim that the foundation is a charitable organisation, it is alleged to be a family venture.
CAC, according to the coordinator of the group, Chief Dike Okafor, made it categorically clear that the foundation, said to be inactive, also listed names of the trustees as Okorocha, his wife, Nkechi, his six children and a brother.
Part of the statement reads:
‘Specifically, the CAC in a letter of March 22,2021 with reference number RGO/SPU/Vol 4/2021/0385, confirmed that Brendan,Uloma, Uchechi, Uju, Amarachi and Amanchi,all children of Okorocha are the trustees of Rochas Foundation along with their mother and an uncle.’
Okafor in the statement wondered how a foundation that has been inactive for years acquire a university registered in imo Government’s name.
The lmo State Government recently recovered the Eastern Palm University, Ogboko, which Okorocha claimed was taken over by Rochas Foundation under a public private partnership arrangement.
Okafor further said that the clarification by CAC has vindicated the state government.
According to Okafor: ‘It has been established that whereas the foundation has not made any annual returns for many years,there is no record anywhere to authenticate the claim of haven legally acquired the said university.’
He also wondered how an inactive foundation got the requisite financial muscle to even bid for the university, and described the action of the former governor as a large scale scam.
Okafor, while calling on the government to prosecute Okorocha for fraud, also called for the arrest and prosecution of those who he said may have aided him in the defrauding the State government.
When contacted for comment, Senator Okorocha’s media adviser, Sam Onwuemeodo, said that ‘they don’t respond to what they have not seen, written or heard.’
