Court orders interim forfeiture of Okorocha’s properties

An Imo State High Court sitting in Owerri, Thursday, ordered forfeiture properties allegedly illegally acquired by a former Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha between 2011 and 2019.

The order was handed down by Justice Fred Njemanze following an application brought by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Louis Alozie.

The suit with case No. HOW/191/2021 had Okorocha’s wife, Nkechi Okorocha, Incorporated Trustees of Rochas Foundation and Okorocha as the first, second and third respondents respectively, against the Attorney-General of the State.

In a motion ex-parte brought pursuant to Section 472(1) of the Imo State Administration of Criminal Justice Law No. 2 of 2020, Alozie 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 allegedly illegally acquired for the purpose of Rochas Foundation College, Owerri; Magistrate Quarters, Orlu Road/Cooperative Office/Girls Guide, allegedly 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, allegedly illegally acquired for the benefit of Nneoma Nkechi Okorocha’s All-In Stall, Aba Road.

Other properties ordered to be forfeited in the interim, are Plot P5, Naze Residential Layout, initially part of Primary School Management Board but now annexed to All-In Stall, 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.

According to Alozie, the application was, among others, based on the ground that, “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.”