Okorocha and Uzodinma
By Our Reporter
The battle for political supremacy between former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha and the incumbent, Governor Hope Uzodinma seems to be getting messier as operatives of the Imo state police Command, Owerri arrested the former governor.
Okorocha was arrested on Sunday after he unsealed the Royal Palm Estate sealed by the State Government.
Recall that Imo Government on Friday had sealed the Royal Palm Estate along Akachi road.
The Commissioner for Lands, Enyinnaya Onuegbu said the seizure was in compliance with the directive of the Imo State gazette on the report of the Judicial Commission of Enquiry on the recovery of Lands and other related matters.
In a bid to recover the estate belonging to his wife, Nkechi, Okorocha broke the locks to the estate.
The ex-governor was accompanied by his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, Ijeoma Igboanusi and Lasbrey Okafor-Anyanwu.
Igboanusi was the deputy chief of staff (Domestics) while Okafor-Anyanwu was the Commissioner for Transportation in Okorocha’s government.
Okorocha who currently represents Imo West at the Senate also stormed the estate with his supporters, policemen, soldiers and personnel of National Security and Civil Defense Corps and ordered the unsealing of the estate.
However, Okorocha and his supporters were confronted by government officials and loyalists of Governor Hope Uzodimma.
The confrontation reportedly left many injured while some cars were damaged.
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba said
Okorocha will be arraigned today
The animosity between the two politicians started when the Imo State government under the watch of Uzodinma embarked on a demolition spree in the State.
Okorocha accused the current Governor of demolishing his legacy projects. But Uzodinma whose bulldozers are on rampage insists he is on a rescue mission to beautify Owerri, the State capital.
Okorocha had described Uzodinma’s move to demolish seven roundabouts as insensitive, this much was revealed in a statement by Okorocha’s Special Adviser on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo,
“It has become necessary to appeal to Governor Uzodinma to stop demolishing Okorocha’s projects, which he built for lmo people and for the development and progress of the state, especially, when the incumbent governor is not building any structures and is not likely to initiate any.
“On Tuesday, December 22, 2020, Uzodinma again, deployed bulldozers to demolish the Orlu-Assumpta Road Roundabout, which Okorocha constructed to ease traffic. He not only built the roundabout, but also expanded Bank Road to eight lanes.
“Governor Uzodinma chose to demolish the roundabout this Christmas season, when the state is expected to witness influx of people and vehicles. And he demolished the roundabout without telling lmo people why he did that and what he intends to do with the place. This is somewhat, insensitive,” the statement reads.
Okorocha also lamented that Uzodinma had demolished a tunnel constructed from 2011 to 2019, stressing: “Before the demolition of the roundabout, Governor Uzodinma had demolished another Okorocha project, the Akanu lbiam Tunnel.”
He explained that the project was built on the House of Assembly-Port Harcourt Road junction, insisting that he built the tunnel to save lives, because before the construction of the tunnel, people died regularly on that spot.
Okorocha said that the demolition of Somto Hospital on Douglas Road, Owerri, was built in memory of the a 10-year old killed by security operatives during the demolition of Ekeukwu Owerre Market, among others.
However, Uzodimma insisted that the projects were being demolished to ease transportation and beautify the state, especially its Capital City.
He had told Imo people that he contracted a firm knowledgeable on construction of modern roundabouts that would ease traffic gridlock with traffic lights, lamenting that motorists spent hours trying to access other parts of the state.
The governor pleaded with Imo people and other commuters to bear with the inconveniences caused by the demolitions and reconstructions.
Following the general outcry that greeted the demolitions Governor Uzodinma also told Imo people that he was demolishing some of the structures to rebuild them up to standard.
But Okorocha disagreed, arguing that due the quality of the materials used in constructing some of the legacy projects, the demolishing bulldozers were unable to level some of the structures.
