Lukman Olabiyi 

A cleric, Evangelist Victor Anuzuo, has lambasted people demonizing the former governor of Imo state, Senator Rochas Okorocha, saying that he may not actually be as guilty as some publications try to paint him. 

He said the media trial of the former governor was orchestrated by politicians, stressing: “Rochas is not guilty of any corruption till his accusers prove otherwise.”

Reacting to the allegation that Okorocha awarded contracts worth billions of naira to a company with suspicious profile, including the Akachi or Hand of God Towers, which was commissioned by the Vice-President Yemi Osibanjo, Anuzuo said that politics was being taken to a ridiculous extent in Imo State.

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He said: “Okorocha is not my friend. I cannot sincerely claim to be his supporter, especially with his recent political activities and objectives, which include wanting to install his son in-law as his successor, while taking a seat in the senate. I did not support that then, and I am not going to support it tomorrow, but that does not mean that the former governor is all shades of evil like some people are bent on presenting him.”

“As a man of God and an accountant by training, I think I owe it to the society to speak truth to power always, no matter whose ox may be gored. I am not a politician, but a vessel of God for the correction of societal ills and serving as a voice to the oppressed and the maligned. I am not going to support evil against anyone, no matter how much I may hate that person and what personal reservations I may have against such individual.

“I think we are taking politics too far in this state, and in an attempt to malign those we do not like or those we consider as political opponents, we deliberately sponsor contumelious publications against them in order to present them as evil before the public. Why don’t we think about the sanity of the populace and the sanctity of truth? As leaders, I think there should be a limit to politics and politicization of issues. Development shouldn’t be politicized.”

“Regarding the letters trending all over the social media, I do not see anything wrong with those letters, unless someone convinces me that there is something wrong with it. Is the governor not entitled to award contracts? Is there any law forbidding the governor from awarding a certain amount of contracts to one company? Are those projects not visible? I think these are what should inform our judgement on this matter, not the unnecessary sensationalization that has greeted the publication of these letters.” “I don’t know what the procurement laws of the state says but the truth is that I do not see anything wrong with awarding contracts to a company that is three months old. What I consider, as a development expert and an accountant, is whether the contract was executed and well executed.”