Buhari has promised to intervene in my case with EFCC – Okorocha

Former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, says President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to take on the case he has with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

He said this on Thursday while responding to questions from State House reporters after a closed door meeting with the President at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The former governor of Imo State said the EFCC had continued to harass him in spite of a subsisting court order restraining the anti-graft agency from prosecuting him.

The commission had filed a 17-count fraud charge against him at the Federal High Court, Abuja, shortly after Okorocha publicly declared intention to contest for presidency in 2023.

He was alleged to have embezzled N2.4 billion through connivance with some individuals and companies.

Okorocha said he met the President in order to get justice because the EFCC was still holding his international passport.

According to him, it is the responsibility of Buhari to ensure that justice is served on all citizens.

Okorocha stated, “The President said he would take up the matter, especially when he saw the judgment. He said, he would 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.”

The senator said it was “politically motivated” when asked if he suspected his ordeal was being orchestrated by the detractors.

He also spoke on why he requested the President’s intervention despite his disposition for principles especially in the fight against corruption, 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 it is incumbent on the government of the day to ensure that justice is done.

“I came to demand 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 order of 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.”

Okorocha attributed the general insecurity in the South East to “poor handling” of the issues of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

He said the decision to prescribe IPOB as terrorists by the FG was a needless action when the matter could have been properly handled by the authorities.

Okorocha said he was able to manage the security situation effectively during his tenure as governor for eight years in Imo State.

“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 to call them terrorists it is the state government that made the recommendations and created that image that presented the boys as terrorists,” he added.

He also asked for justice on the matter involving his in-law, Uche Nwosu, who was kidnapped by masked security personnel, saying the arrested person in connection with the matter had been released.