There was tension in Owerri, the Imo State capital on Thursday, as angry youths prevented members of the government taskforce from breaking into the private residence of former Governor Rochas Okorocha.
The government Recovery Committee, led by Jasper Ndubuaku, had raided the business places of Okorocha’s daughter and wife allegedly in search of stolen property belonging to the government.
However, plans to raid Okorocha’s Spibat home, which houses the Rochas Foundation College of Africa, was met with stiff opposition as irate youths barricaded the entrance. They were said to have pounced on the committee chairman while his men escaped.
It was also gathered that while the Ndubuaku-led committee was trying to enter Okorocha’s home, thousands of youths, believed to have been mobilised by the government, laid ambush for the former governor at the Sam Mbakwe Airport as he was reportedly visiting the state.
But they dispersed after it was discovered that Okorocha was not returning to the state.
Ndubuaku, who addressed reporters after the incident, said he was attacked by thugs camped at Okorocha’s compound.
He said: “We went to search the compound with valid court order and inventory of the government properties we want to recover, but when we got to the gate, the security men collected the inventory and asked us to wait, while they check if the items were there.
“While we were still waiting, some armed thugs came out from the compound and attacked us, I was shot severally and cut with machete but it could not pierce my body”.
A statement by his media aide, Sam Onwuemeodo, reads: “Our attention has been drawn to accusations by Chairman of the Imo State Property Recovery Committee, Jasper Ndubuaku, that former Governor Rochas Okorocha recruited thugs to attack him and his team when they wanted to invade his private residence at Sipbat, Owerri.
“But we want to say the former governor has not been in Owerri for days now. Ndubuaku stormed his private home at Sipbat with more than 700 thugs – not forgetting that he told the public he recruited 6,000 youths to help recover government property when the committee was set up.
“They were about to surge into the Sipbat home when youths sympathetic to the former governor rushed to the place to stop them. Ndubuaku and his thugs were there without any court order. And they have failed or refused to publish whatever they think the former governor has in his possession which they think belongs to the government as we had demanded. They also slapped Okorocha’s daughter, Mrs. Uloma Rochas Nwosu, in one of their altercation.
“Their hostility against the former governor has snowballed since they saw the mammoth crowd that received him on his first visit back since leaving office on May 29. Governor Ihedioha should pursue peace and ensure peace. Trying to engage his predecessor on all fronts isn’t advisable”.
