{"id":8557,"date":"2022-05-24T22:19:26","date_gmt":"2022-05-24T22:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/ng\/?p=8557"},"modified":"2022-05-24T22:19:26","modified_gmt":"2022-05-24T22:19:26","slug":"developing-former-imo-state-governor-rochas-okorocha-begs-for-mercy-as-efcc-whisks-suspect-into-a-waiting-van-for-squandering-2-9billion-naira-public-fund-anti-graft-agency-filed-17-count","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/developing-former-imo-state-governor-rochas-okorocha-begs-for-mercy-as-efcc-whisks-suspect-into-a-waiting-van-for-squandering-2-9billion-naira-public-fund-anti-graft-agency-filed-17-count\/","title":{"rendered":"DEVELOPING: Former Imo State Governor, ROCHAS OKOROCHA begs for mercy as EFCC whisks suspect into a waiting van for Squandering 2.9billion Naira Public Fund \u2026 anti-graft agency filed 17-count criminal charge bordering on diversion of public funds and properties, \u2018It\u2019s a lie, EFCC don\u2019t want me to contest presidential screening this Saturday\u2019, Okoraha screams while been taken away *\u201cOur commission on May 24, 2022, arrived at the Maitama, Abuja home of a former governor of Imo state, Senator Rochas Okorocha, to effect his arrest. The move followed the refusal of the former governor to honour invitations after jumping the administrative bail earlier granted him by the Commission. Okorocha\u2019s case was assigned to Honourable Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja but attempts to arraign Senator Okorocha were twice stalled owing to the absence of the ex-governor who evaded service of processes. At the last adjourned date, March 28th, 2022, Justice Ekwo before adjourning until May 30th, 2022\u201d-EFCC *BY ABBA USMAN\/CRIME & JUDICIAL Correspondent, Abuja"},"content":{"rendered":"

DEVELOPING:<\/b><\/p>\n

Former Imo State Governor, ROCHAS OKOROCHA begs for mercy as EFCC whisks suspect into a waiting van for Squandering 2.9billion Naira Public Fund<\/b><\/p>\n

\u2026 anti-graft agency filed 17-count criminal charge bordering on diversion of public funds and properties, \u2018It\u2019s a lie, EFCC don\u2019t want me to contest presidential screening this Saturday\u2019, Okorocha screams while been taken away\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

*\u201cOur commission on May 24, 2022, arrived at the Maitama, Abuja home of a former governor of Imo state, Senator Rochas Okorocha, to effect his arrest. The move followed the refusal of the former governor to honour invitations after jumping the administrative bail earlier granted him by the Commission. Okorocha\u2019s case was assigned to Honourable Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja but attempts to arraign Senator Okorocha were twice stalled owing to the absence of the ex-governor who evaded service of processes. At the last adjourned date, March 28th, 2022, Justice Ekwo before adjourning until May 30th, 2022\u201d-EFCC<\/b><\/p>\n

*BY ABBA USMAN\/CRIME & JUDICIAL Correspondent, Abuja<\/b><\/p>\n

DANIEL has come to judgment, as Nigeria\u2019s anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, finally arrested a former Governor of\u00a0 Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha, after a long siege to his Maitama residence in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, on Tuesday.<\/b><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The EFCC officers whisked the embattled former governor away at exactly 06:48 pm in their vehicle after breaking into his living room.<\/span><\/p>\n

Minutes before the officers broke in, Okorocha, in a live video made on his official Facebook Page, said officers of the commission had broken all his bulletproof doors.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said, \u201cThe EFCC operatives are here with some gunmen and they have broken all my bulletproof doors. This may be my last appearance because I don\u2019t know what they want to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Okorocha and his family members could be seen in the video running around the living room in fear of the officers who were banging on the door leading to the living room.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier on, security operatives accompanying officials of the EFCC shot sporadically to disperse female supporters protesting at the ex-governor\u2019s home in a show of solidarity.<\/span><\/p>\n

The women had come to protest the continued siege on Okorocha\u2019s residence by the operatives, demanding an end to the siege.<\/span><\/p>\n

EFCC has advanced reasons why its personnel occupied the Abuja home of a former governor of Imo state, Senator Rochas Okorocha, to effect his arrest on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The anti-graft agency said the action followed the refusal of the former governor to honour invitations after jumping the administrative bail earlier granted him by the Commission.<\/span><\/p>\n

The EFCC gave the explanation in a statement shared on its Facebook page on Tuesday titled, \u2018Why We Are At Okorocha\u2019s Home-EFCC\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The statement read, \u201cOperatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on May 24, 2022, arrived at the Maitama, Abuja home of a former governor of Imo state, Senator Rochas Okorocha, to effect his arrest.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe move followed the refusal of the former governor to honour invitations after jumping the administrative bail earlier granted him by the Commission.<\/span><\/p>\n

EFCC had on January 24, 2022 filed a 17-count criminal charge bordering on diversion of public funds and properties to the tune of N2.9billion against Okorocha.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe case was assigned to Honourable Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court, Abuja but attempts to arraign Senator Okorocha were twice stalled owing to the absence of the ex-governor who evaded service of processes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt the last adjourned date, March 28th, 2022, Justice Ekwo before adjourning until May 30th, 2022, had warned that it was \u201cthe last adjournment I shall grant in this matter\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the circumstances, the Commission is left with no option than to effect the arrest of Senator Okorocha and bring him to trial.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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DEVELOPING: Former Imo State Governor, ROCHAS OKOROCHA begs for mercy as EFCC whisks suspect into a waiting van for Squandering 2.9billion Naira Public Fund \u2026 anti-graft agency filed 17-count criminal charge bordering on diversion of public funds and properties, \u2018It\u2019s a lie, EFCC don\u2019t want me to contest presidential screening this Saturday\u2019, Okorocha screams while […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-crime"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nigeriastandardnewspaper.com\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}