Alleged Corruption: Okorocha visits Buhari, seeks his intervention in EFCC trial

Former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, has taken his alleged corruption case with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to President Muhammadu Buhari.

Okorocha, who currently represents Imo West at the Senate, met with Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, appealing to him to intervene in his matter with the EFCC.

The EFCC recently dragged Okorocha to court were they levelled a 17-count corruption charge against him.

But speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting with Buhari, Okorocha said he visited the President to formally apprise him on his decision to vie for the 2023 presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress and to also intimate him of what “is going on between me and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the harassment and intimidation that I’m getting from the EFCC, literally on daily basis.”

He said he equally informed Buhari that “I have court judgment and two court orders for different judgments at different forums, which stop the EFCC from harassing and intimidating me. EFCC has refused to obey the law.

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“And so I have to inform Mr President that EFCC should be made to obey the law that established it. And without the law, there wouldn’t be an EFCC. And the desperation with which they go about any affair that concerning me, should stop.

“And I reminded Mr President that recall that sometimes ago, the EFCC had claimed that they recovered the sum of N5.9 billion from my account, which the court found out to be untrue.

“In other words, they were biased and they prejudged me. On that basis, the court ruled and ordered that they should not further interrogate and harass me. This has also not been obeyed.

“The court ordered the EFCC to release my international passport, the EFCC has refused to obey. The court gives damages to me for some N500million for EFCC to pay. EFCC has not paid that. “Rather than doing that, on the day of my declaration, EFCC went on the press to announce that I’m being prosecuted for some criminal charges of N2.9billion and no more than N5.9billion.

“So, I said as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and one that stands on the side of the law, he should bring this to the attention of the EFCC.

“And despite the efforts by the Office of the Attorney General to make the EFCC see reasons and obey court judgment, to release my travel documents, and stop the harassment, they have refused.

“So, I think that is some kind of desperation on the side of EFCC. And I don’t know who might be causing this, but it is appropriate that I do let them know of the injustice that is going on with me as regards the EFCC.”

When asked if he wanted to stop EFCC from prosecuting him by reporting to Buhari, Okorocha said he did not ask the president to stop the agency from investigating him but to get the commission to obey the law.

He said, “One of the duties of a president is to protect the law of the land. And when an issue comes to an issue of judgment the duty is incumbent on the government of the day to ensure that justice is done.

“I came to demand for justice that you should prevail and as the custodian, as the leader of our nation, he should be made to know that such is going on.

“I didn’t come here to say, I don’t want to be investigated by the EFCC. That’s not the issue, that there’s judgment on the ground. There’s judgment and there’s the order of the court that I’m asking Mr President, who appointed the EFCC to recall that there was the law that established the EFCC.

“And if that law is good to make somebody EFCC that law should be obeyed, too. So, I’m not asking Mr President to speak on the matter.”

He revealed that the President assured him he would take up the matter, “especially when he saw the judgment. He said we’ll take up the matter and find out what is actually happening. And I hope he will do so. And I believe he will do that.”

He said that while informing the president of his ambition, he asked him to ensure that elements of the legacy political parties that formed the APC are carried along in the affairs of the ruling party.

He said: “Mr President is a leader of the party, the APC, because he’s the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which office that I intend to handle after 2023. And again, I used the opportunity to discuss issues relating to our party especially how the party was formed.

“President Muhammadu Buhari, then former head of state-led the CPC into the merge of what became today APC, followed by Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu who led the ACN, and myself, Rochas Okorocha who led the APGA and other leaders of ANPP. This is the four legs upon with the party today called APC is standing.

“I used the opportunity to remind Mr President, of how it all started, and for us to keep the history of this party alive.

“I also made him understand that in the coming convention, these four pillars should be carried along in all our decisions. For without these pillars, there wouldn’t have been anything called the APC today and the victory that followed after.

“I also discuss the need to strengthen our party, the APC and to make sure that it should be a grassroots rooted party as we had abinitio agreed as founding fathers, that our party must be strong at the grassroots level and not a hanging party at Abuja.

“So, everybody must go to his village and promote the party. And I’m able to ascertain from Mr President, that the days of people sitting in Abuja here and clinching power without getting the support of the masses of the people will not be tolerated at the APC. I’m very happy with that statement. And I hope we shall keep to that.”

On whether the EFCC investigation against him was politically motivated, he said, “I suspect so. Because why I say it is politically motivated means that some people are insitgating the EFCC to do this, which is wrong. All I’m asking from the EFCC is to please obey the law.

“And you cannot refuse to obey the law on one side, and then go for the law on the other side. So if EFCC obeys the law, it will be the best thing they can do for the image of the EFCC and the image of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“But as to who particularly, the person must be such a coward who doesn’t want to expose himself. And there are people like that who wouldn’t want to expose themselves but stay underdoing all kinds of things. I call them cowards because they stand up to what they believe in.

“My suspicion at this point is immaterial. What is more important is that the EFCC should obey a simple court judgment and court order, as the case may be.”

Asked whether he had sought the blessings of the Imo state governor in his presidential ambition, he replied, “It is not for the governor to decide who becomes President, we’re talking about the people. Even the governor himself will depend on the people to do so. My first consultation after seeing Mr President now is to go to Nigerians and ask them if they want me to be their President. And that will be my next line of action. And of course, I’ll visit the six geopolitical zones, and inquire from.”

He decried alleged poor handling of IPOB’s agitation by the government noting that he does not see members of the proscribed group as terrorists.

He said, “The insecurity in the southeast region, I always say to people, wherever things are not working well, hold the leadership responsible. I was a governor of Imo state for eight years. And within that eight years, there was absolute peace in that land.

“The IPOB did exist. And all these additional forces did exist. Is the poor handling by the state government that orchestrated this to what it is today, that has left many dead, and has left the whole nation in confusion, and showing some kind of ethnic decline that seem to divide the Igbos from others. It is poor handling.

“If I had remained the governor of the state at this time, you won’t hear what you’re hearing. So, it is for handling.

“The IPOB are our young men, our sons and daughters, and let no Igbo man tell you that these young men are not our sons and daughters. They’re our children. Our children who believe that the Nigerian nation does not like them, our children who believe that have been marginalized in terms of infrastructures, appointments, and they’ve been going on with these songs for a very, very long time. They believe this. But we’re able to assuage them and give them confidence that things will get better.

“But there was absolutely no need to have handled the IPOB matter the way it was handled. In the first place, bringing the Air Force and the Army into the matter, raiding from the air was wrong and completely wrong. Asking the Air Force to take fighter jets to go to war in my senatorial zone in Orlu to fight young men, was wrong. Just as it is also wrong for this young man to have gone to the police headquarters and shot and killed people. I don’t support any of them either.

“But what I’m talking about is approach and handling was the major mistake. Today they have turned out to be terrorists. But for me, I don’t see them as terrorists. I see them as children who have not been properly educated on the happenings.”

Asked whether the proscription of IPOB was right, Okorocha said: “What I’m saying is that the activities that went on later called for that. But it was a needless action to have even started. Something that you can handle and not allowed to escalate? If the federal government made them call them terrorists it is the state government that made the recommendations and created that image that presented the boys as terrorists.”