I See IPOB As Poorly Educated Children, Not Terrorists – Okorocha

Former Governor of Imo State and Presidential hopeful, Rochas Okorocha, has said that he noticed members of the proscribed Indigenous Folks of Biafra as poorly educated kids, not terrorists.

This was as he accused the present authorities of Imo state of mishandling the safety disaster; stating that the proscription of the Indigenous Folks of Biafra as terrorists was an pointless transfer.

Okorocha disclosed this on Thursday to State Home Correspondents shortly after a closed-door assembly with the President, Main Normal Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

Quizzed on the safety disaster in Imo State and the Southeast, he blamed the “poor dealing with” by the present Imo state authorities, saying, “Wherever issues aren’t working properly, maintain the management accountable. I used to be Governor of Imo state for eight years. And inside these eight years, there was absolute peace in that land. IPOB did exist. And all these extra forces existed too.

“It’s the poor dealing with by the state authorities that exacerbated this to what it’s at this time. If I had remained the Governor of the state right now, you wouldn’t hear what you’re listening to.

“IPOB are our younger males, our little kids, and let no Igbo man inform you in any other case. They consider that they’ve been marginalised when it comes to infrastructure and appointments, they usually’ve believed this for a very long time. However we’re capable of assuage them and provides them confidence that issues will get higher.

“However there was no have to have dealt with the IPOB matter the best way it was dealt with. Within the first place, bringing the Air Power and the Military into the matter. Raiding from the air was unsuitable and utterly unsuitable. Simply as additionally it is unsuitable for these younger males to have gone to the police headquarters taking pictures and killing folks

“I don’t assist any of them both. At present they’ve turned out to be terrorists. However for me, I don’t see them as terrorists. I see them as kids who haven’t been correctly educated on the happenings.”

Requested if the Federal Authorities was unsuitable to proscribe IPOB as terrorists, he mentioned, “The actions of IPOB known as for that. However it was a unnecessary motion to have even began. One thing you could deal with and never permit to escalate. If the federal authorities made them to name them terrorists, it’s the state authorities that made the suggestions and created that picture that introduced the boys as terrorists.

He additionally declared that the current episodes between him and the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee was politically motivated by “cowards who wouldn’t wish to expose themselves.”

On February 1, 2022, the EFCC filed N2.9bn fraud fees towards the lawmaker representing Imo West Senatorial District. The event got here simply hours after he formally declared his presidential bid for 2023.

Talking on Thursday, Okorocha mentioned the recent fees had been politically motivated, which is why he was within the State Home to hunt the President’s intervention to keep away from continued “harassment” by the anti-graft company.

He mentioned:-

“I intimated Mr President on what’s going on between me and Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee and the harassment and intimidation that I’m getting from the EFCC, actually every day. And to tell him that I’ve court docket judgment and two court docket orders for various judgments, which stops the EFCC from harassing and intimidating me. EFCC has refused to obey the legislation.

“So I’ve to return to tell Mr President that EFCC needs to be made to obey the legislation that established it. And with out the legislation, there wouldn’t be an EFCC. And the desperations with which they go about any affair that issues me ought to cease.

The EFCC claimed that they recovered the sum of N5.9bn from my account, which the court docket discovered to be unfaithful. In different phrases, they had been biased, they usually prejudged me. On that foundation, the court docket dominated and ordered that they need to not interrogate and harass me additional. This has additionally not been obeyed.

Why I say it’s politically motivated is that some persons are instigating the EFCC to do that, which is unsuitable. However as to who significantly, the individual have to be such a coward who doesn’t wish to expose himself.

“And there are folks like that who wouldn’t wish to expose themselves however keep beneath doing every kind of issues. I name them coward as a result of they will’t stand as much as what they consider in.

“My suspicion at this level is immaterial. What’s extra essential is that the EFCC ought to obey a easy court docket judgment and court docket order.”

The previous Governor who defined that he was within the State Home to “demand justice,” argued that he’s not seeing the President keep away from being investigated by the EFCC quite to make the anti-graft company adjust to extant orders issued by the court docket.