Court orders  final forfeiture of Okorocha’s 500 properties

By Chris Njoku, ,Owerri

The Senator representing Imo  West Senatorial Zone, Owelle Rochas Okorocha,  and his family  are  to permanently    forfeit to the Imo State Government, over 500  properties acquired  by them between 2011 and 2019.

The  properties, including the popular Royal Palm Springs Hotel in Owerri, Eastern Palm University, Ogboko;  IBC staff quarters,  are contained in pages 226 to 272 of the Imo state   White Paper report on recovery of lands and other related matters.

Justice Fred Njemanze of Owerri  High Court gave the final   forfeiture order while delivering judgment in a  suit marked HOW/M1191/2021 instituted  by Louis Alozie on behalf of the state government

But Okorocha’s lead counsel, Oba Maduabuchi, vowed to challenge the judgment in  a higher court.  He described the verdict  as “perfidy of justice,” saying  that “even a primary school pupil knows that  it   cannot  stand.”

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The court had in  February ordered the interim forfeiture  of all the properties. It had also asked Okorocha, who was the state governor from  2011 to  2019  to show reason(s) why he should not  permanently  forfeit the properties.

In his judgment yesterday, Justice Njemanze noted that legal team failed to give verifiable reasons why a final and absolute forfeiture order should not be given in favour of the government.

The judge also held that the application   against the government by Okorocha’s lawyers  was not properly filed. He   described it as a “surplusage,” a term in law which means a useless statement completely irrelevant to a matter.

Njemanze maintained that the White Paper by the government is a legal binding document.

Reacting, Maduabuchi said he was baffled that the judge went ahead to give judgment even when they had agreed a date for the  ruling on their pending  application.

His words: “ I’m baffled.  On  Friday, a text message came from the judge that he would deliver his ruling on Monday(yesterday) or Tuesday. But because of the sit-at-home order by IPOB (Indegenous People of Biafra) we agreed for Tuesday(today).  I was shocked when my colleague told me that they have delivered a ruling,; not just a  ruling but a judgment

“We had earlier on Tuesday last week  argued the objections I raised on the processes filled by Imo State Government. The  judge said he reserved his ruling   and when ruling is reserved ,it means that no particular date is fixed . Usually when it (ruling) is  ready, parties are informed.”