A high court sitting in Imo State has ordered the temporary forfeiture of all the properties said to be acquired “illegally” by Rochas Okorocha, who served as the state governor from 2011 to 2019.
Fred Njemanze, the presiding judge, gave the order following an ex parte application filed by Louis Alozie, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
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.
Anozie applied for interim forfeiture of the following properties belonging to Okorocha: 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, 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.
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.”