From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
APPARENTLY reacting to the recent arrest of some of his aides by Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC), the Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha said that the state has been the most investigated in the country.
Okorocha who stated this yesterday during a breakfast meeting with journalists at the Government House
Owerri, said that it was not true contrary to speculation that his aides were arrested by the anti- graft agency over the alleged diversion of N2 billion of the N26.7 billion bail out fund given to the state by the Federal Government. He disclosed that every Imo worker has been paid up till December which he said the bail ou fund covers, stating that before the bail out fund was taken that the state had initially accessed a loan from Zenith Bank to pay salaries adding that the loan has been repaid.
“So it was not true that N2Billion was diverted from the bail out fund.
My administration is the most investigated in the whole country because the EFCC has visited the state more than any state in the country because Imo State has professional petition writers and whenever there is an allegation, the EFCC will come down to the state to investigate.
He added, “this is not the first time that EFCC is coming to the state, in fact they have been here more than fifty times and they are always welcomed to the state if they have issues to clarify with the officials of the state because it is their duty to investigate any allegation no matter how frivolous and it was in this regard that they came.”
The Imo State governor maintained that his administration is not owning any bank or has taken any loan from abroad as alleged by his detractors, but has performed more than any previous administration before it. “My administration is not owing any bank or have we taken any loan from abroad as alleged by my critics. We are open for investigation because we are transparent and I challenge anybody to prove me wrong because this administration has performed more than any other administration and the results are there for anybody to see,” he said.