Imo Govt orders arrest of Okorocha

.Over assault by thugs linked to ex-Gov on chairman, Recovery of Govt Properties c’ttee

.Recovery c’ttee attacked by former Gov’s sympathisers, passersby – Okorocha’s aide

.We’ll probe ex-Gov’s role in assault of Imo Govt official – Police

Imo State government on Thursday ordered a citizen’s arrest against Sen. Rochas Okorocha, over alleged assault on a government official, Mr. Jasper Ndubuaku.

The Secretary to State Government (SSG), Mr. Uche Onyeaguocha, gave the order after the Chairman of the Imo State Committee on Recovery of Movable Government Assets, Mr. Jasper Ndubuaku, was assaulted at Okorocha’s residence on Spibat Avenue, Owerri.

Onyeaguocha said that the state had also placed Okorocha on security watch and urged Imo citizens to arrest him and alert the government whenever they found him in the state.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Rabiu Ladodo, and SSG confirmed the incident to newsmen at a joint news briefing in Owerri on Thursday.

They announced that a citizen’s arrest had been declared on Okorocha over the incident.

They claimed that Okorocha hired thugs to attack Ndubuaku, who doubles as Special Adviser to Governor Emeka Ihedioha on Security matters.

They said that the Senator representing Imo West would be arrested and prosecuted anytime he entered the state.

The commissioner of police said that police would investigate the senator’s involvement in the matter.

Our correspondent reports that the Jasper Ndubuaku-led Imo State Committee on Recovery of Movable Government Assets had gone to the former governor’s house at Sipbat Avenue, Owerri on Thursday to recover 20 security and protocol vehicles and four speed boats donated to the state by Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as well as the only serviceable crane owned by the state used to install and repair street lights and street lights poles when they were attacked by the suspected thugs.

The armed thugs numbering over 50 emerged from the house of the former governor and descended on the chairman of the recovery team, Ndubuaku, stripped him naked and pushed him into a nearby drainage while other members of the committee were also assaulted.

It was learnt that members of the committee met with security operatives guarding the former governor’s house, who requested to know their mission.

Ndubuaku, as the leader of the recovery team committee, brandished the court warrant in the committee’s possession and equally gave the security men the list of items billed for recovery.

Trouble, however, started when the security men told Ndubuaku to stay across the road to wait for them to confirm whether or not the properties were still inside the compound.

As Ndubuaku and his committee members were waiting on the opposite side of the road, some thugs emerged from senator’s house and started attacking the committee members, who ran for their dear lives, leaving Ndubuaku to his fate.

Reeling out his experience to journalists after the incident, Ndubuaku said he and his committee members had gone to the former governor’s premises with a court order to retrieve the items that were still lying in his house.

According to him, security men at the gate cooperated with him and asked him to stay aside while they were checking things out.

“I saw over 50 boys inside the premises all bearing arms. But, I wasn’t afraid because I was on a genuine course. But, one thing I noticed is that those boys didn’t look local.

“As we stepped aside, the boys stormed out and charged at us. They started shooting at me and when that didn’t work, they stabbed me, but could not cut me. So they tore my clothes while I was still inside the gutter,” he said.

Ndubuaku, however, vowed not to give up, insisting that those properties must be recovered.

Reacting, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, Special Assistant on Media to Okorocha, said the recovery committee was attacked by the former governor’s sympathisers and passersby.

He said that the recovery team went to Okorocha’s house without a court order, adding that they invaded Okorocha’s residence with no fewer than 50 thugs.

His words: “Our attention has been drawn to the Press Conference held today, August 29, 2019 by the Chairman, Imo State Property Recovery Committee Mr. Jasper Ndubuaku accusing the former governor of the State Owelle Rochas Okorocha recruiting thugs to attack him and his team when they wanted to invade the private residence of the former governor at Sipbat, Owerri.

“Mr. Ndubuaku stormed the private residence of the former governor at Spibat with more than 700 thugs and he had informed the public when his committee was set up that he had recruited 6000 youths to help him recover government properties.

“They were about to surge into the Spibat residence of the former governor when the information came and youths with sympathy for 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.”