Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
Controversy is still trailing the alleged discovery, last week, of government property in a warehouse said to belong to Okorocha’s family. The discovery which is credited to members of the committee on recovery of government property, set up by Governor Ihedioha administration, led to the near lynching by angry mob, of Okorocha’s daughter, Uloma, and wife of Chief Uche Nwosu, the Action Alliance governorship candidate in the state. Uloma had claimed she was slapped by a member of the recovery of government property committee set up by the state government. But the chairman of the committee, Jasper Ndubuaku, in this interview with Saturday Sun, denied the allegation while revealing what the committee found when they stormed the warehouse allegedly owned by Okorocha’s wife, Nkechi. Efforts to reach Uloma was not successful as an aide said she would prefer to remain silent on the matter for now. Excerpts:
A group of women under the aegis of Assembly of Concerned Women of Thought, recently staged a protest on the alleged slapping of Rochas Okorocha’s daughter, Uloma Nwosu, in which they demanded that the real culprit be fished out or else they would report the matter to the gods. What’s your reaction?
It’s really funny. These people are fraudulent. I repeat, nobody slapped Okorocha’s daughter. In fact, she was the one who came there and intimidated us to a standstill. We were six men who went there with a court order. When we got there, we saw some security boys. We told them we came for them to show us what is there. They said they don’t have the authorisation to do so and we said we thought as much. We said we would wait. We told them we got a report that there were some government property in their possession and that we went to court to obtain an order. We waited, for, at least, 30 minutes. If we were violent, we would have done something drastic. But while we were waiting, suddenly Uloma Nwosu arrived with three military men, three mobile policemen and one civil defence lady. We have their photographs which we will release for the world to see at the appropriate time. These people started shooting into the air on this matter we came quietly for. In fact, it was the small gate that the boys opened for us. We entered and they closed it. We went inside and sat down to wait for her. So it was the release of some volleys from outside that alerted us that she was around. The shooting attracted traders at Alaba market which was just opposite and they started rushing to find out what was happening. There was nothing she and her security men did not do to intimidate us. They threatened to shoot us there. We said we were there with a court order. She asked to see it. We showed her. We told her that all we wanted is to see if there is any government property there. And, if there are, to find a way to pack them away; that’s what the court order says. I didn’t need to go there with military men. In a law-abiding society, I don’t think a bailiff needs a military man to go on such assignments. And, that was exactly how we went. But she landed with all these security agencies and they started shooting from outside the gate. Tell me, under such circumstance, do you think we would have her slapped her? How can someone who claimed to be the daughter of a former governor descend so low as to fake photographs to create an impression that she was slapped? It just shows me the level of the people that I am dealing with.
According to the governor who spoke through his media aide, Sam Onwuemeodo, he claimed that the property inside belonged to his wife’s business outlet. Do you have any information contrary to that?
I wouldn’t know whether you saw the property being talked about. Most of the chairs have Imo State government crest on them. I don’t know how the wife would now have Imo State crested materials. They were all there. We saw them. How can she deny? If you go there now, you will see them. I believe they were all moved there from the government house. They were all packed there. The same thing goes for the roofing sheets removed from the Imo State House of Assembly and the secretariat. We understand that the sheets were of 7mm gauge. They are as thick as the size of a cabin biscuit. But they removed them and replaced them with lighter ones. And, most of the old sheets you cannot find in the country today. If you go there, you will understand the problem Imo had throughout his time, and why there was constant renovation of government-owned property. Probably, every government structure underwent two or three-time renovations under Okorocha. They would remove the doors and windows and pack them somewhere and, after one or two years, they would replace them.
It was also alleged that you have been inciting the public in the process of recovering the property. How true is this allegation?
Well, I don’t know how I incited the public when it was apparent that we went in quietly without creating any scene. But for the sustained warning shots from her security men, nobody would have known what was happening. If you’d observed carefully, our vehicles were packed outside. They were the people that drove inside.
But the places you entered were said to be under investigation by EFCC?
It is not true. I can take you there. This is a warehouse. You wouldn’t even know that anything is happening there because it was disguised as if it was under construction. You will never believe that it is a massive warehouse and it is well detached from the ones on which EFCC is doing their investigations. Come to think of it, they also accused the governor (Chief Emeka Ihedioha) of inviting EFCC, that they came to frighten children in school. It is all lies because the school closed two weeks before EFCC came.
What is the state of things now, with regard to the property under controversy?
When the police commissioner came, she (Uloma) claimed that there were no government property there. But we have identified them and taken photographs as well as taken some samples as the police commissioner advised. We have also sealed up the place. The police commissioner himself locked up the place. I still have the keys.