Arrest of my political family members plot to implicate me - Okorocha

Former Imo Governor, Rochas Okorocha has condemned the arrest of Mr Ojukwu Ukonu and Mr Casmir Ugbo, two members of his political family, he alleged were arrested by officials of the Anti-Kidnapping Department of the Police Headquarters, Owerri.

Sam Onwuemeodo, spokesperson for Okorocha, in a statement, yesterday, claimed the police had stormed the house of Ukonu and arrested him last Friday after they had searched his house and nothing was found incriminating. He said the police also stormed the house of Ugbo, searched his house, but found nothing against him.

“He was not around when they came. They arrested the wife. The man came back and reported himself. They also arrested the man, detained both the man and the wife. With the children left alone at home.  As we write, the two men have not been told the offence or offences they committed for which they were arrested and detained. The two men have been members of Okorocha’s larger political family. And that’s the crux of our concern with regard to the arrest.

At the inception of the attacks in Imo, by both unknown and known gunmen, there were concerted efforts to link Senator Rochas Okorocha to such unfortunate attacks, even when the whole world knew that it was not true. Our concern or suspicion has remained that, those desperate to link or associate Okorocha with the Owerri attacks, have not relented. They are still trying to justify their false claim. So, for us, the arrest of these two men was not unconnected with the heightened effort to link Okorocha and his people to the  attacks in the state.”

However, Imo Governor, Hope Uzodimma in a statement by his spokesperson, Oguwike Nwachuku, described Okorocha as a rabble-rouser.

“Nigerians should not take him seriously. He is being hunted by his ghost over how he destroyed a state he governed for eight years. Imo people may forgive him, but they will not forget what he did to them – raping the state in and out and making it look like a laughing-stock until recently when Governor Hope Uzodimma took up the challenge to clear his mess.”