A High Court sitting in Owerri presided over by Justice F. Njemanze has granted an application filed by Louis Alozie (SAN), seeking interim forfeiture of all properties allegedly illegally acquired by immediate past Governor, Senator Rochas Okorocha.
The suit, with case No. HOW/191/202, had the former Governor’s wife, Mrs. Nkechi Okorocha, Incorporated Trustees of Rochas Foundation and Senator Rochas Okorocha as 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents respectively against the Attorney-General of Imo state.
Okorocha, who governed Imo from 2011 to 2019, is representing Imo West Senatorial District.
In a motion ex-parte brought pursuant to Section 472(1) of the Imo State Administration of Criminal Justice Law No. 2 of 2020, Louis Alozie (SAN) applied for interim forfeiture of the following properties allegedly acquired by Okorocha illegally: Eastern Palm University, Ogboko; Royal Spring Palm Hotels and Apartments ; IBC staff quarters illegally acquired for the purpose of Rochas Foundation College, Owerri; Magistrate Quarters, Orlu road/Cooperative Office/Girls Guide illegally converted to private use housing Market Square, Kilimanjaro eatery; public building plot B/2 Otamiri South Extension Layout given to the Ministry of Women Affairs for establishing a skills acquisition centre for women illegally acquired for the benefit of Nneoma Nkechi Okorocha’s All-In Stall, Aba road.
Others include Plot P5 Naze Residential Layout initially part of Primary School Management Board but now annexed to All-In Stores, Aba Road belonging to Mrs. Nkechi Okorocha and all the properties contained from pages 226 to 272 of the Government White Paper on the recommendation of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Land Administration in Imo state from June 2006 to May 2019.
The application was, among others, based on the ground: “These public properties were converted to personal use by the 1st-3rd respondents and their cronies for which the applicants now intends to recover them in line with the White Paper by the Judicial Commission of Inquiry’s report”.
The nation