Freezing of accounts by IMo state APGA candidate elect is illegal, Imo govt tells Okorocha
The Imo State government has slammed the state’s governor-elect, Chief Rochas Okorocha, for instructing the state government’s bankers not honour cheques from the current government of Chief Ikedi Ohakim until after the handover on May, 29.
In a release signed by the state’s Commissioner for Information, Mr. Elvis Agukwe, the government described the action as illegal as order was being issued from ‘the Office of the Governor-Elect’ which does not exist in the Nigerian constitution and that the action was causing tension in the state.
According to the statement, Chief Okorocha’s order was passed to the banks through his Chief of Staff, one Prince Eze Madumere.
The state said further: "The action of Chief Okorocha is already grinding government machinery to a halt. As I talk to you now, civil servants in the state are becoming restive because the banks, evidently acting under the instruction of Chief Okorocha, have refused to release cheques for their April salaries. Yet Chief Okorocha and his handlers are sending out text messages, telling the civil servants that salaries cannot be paid because the governor used all the money for his campaigns."
The statement further said that aides of Chief Okorocha with a Senator recently went to the office of the Imo Broadcasting Corporation (I.B.C) to ransack computers and files in search of contract papers on projects handled at the corporation in the last four years."
The Imo State government described the actions as acts of perfidy and unconstitutional as there is no office of the governor-elect in the Nigerian constitution, saying the state government was unafraid of probe, but that the Chief Okocha should do that only when he assumes office on May 29.
In a release signed by the state’s Commissioner for Information, Mr. Elvis Agukwe, the government described the action as illegal as order was being issued from ‘the Office of the Governor-Elect’ which does not exist in the Nigerian constitution and that the action was causing tension in the state.
According to the statement, Chief Okorocha’s order was passed to the banks through his Chief of Staff, one Prince Eze Madumere.
The state said further: "The action of Chief Okorocha is already grinding government machinery to a halt. As I talk to you now, civil servants in the state are becoming restive because the banks, evidently acting under the instruction of Chief Okorocha, have refused to release cheques for their April salaries. Yet Chief Okorocha and his handlers are sending out text messages, telling the civil servants that salaries cannot be paid because the governor used all the money for his campaigns."
The statement further said that aides of Chief Okorocha with a Senator recently went to the office of the Imo Broadcasting Corporation (I.B.C) to ransack computers and files in search of contract papers on projects handled at the corporation in the last four years."
The Imo State government described the actions as acts of perfidy and unconstitutional as there is no office of the governor-elect in the Nigerian constitution, saying the state government was unafraid of probe, but that the Chief Okocha should do that only when he assumes office on May 29.
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