The Imo State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, has been accused of diverting N1.05 billion to enable him buy votes for his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, who is the flag bearer of the Action Alliance in Saturday’s governorship election.
The allegation was contained in a Situation Report of the EFCC on Friday.
According to the situation Report, the Accountant-General of Imo State, Uzoho Casmir, has been arrested for allegedly aiding Okorocha, a member of the All Progressives Congress, in laundering the N1.05 billion for the governorship and House of Assembly elections on Saturday.
The EFCC stated: “The, EFCC, Enugu Zonal Office, Thursday, March 8, 2019 arrested the Acting Accountant General of Imo State, Mr. Uzoho Casmir, on suspicion of laundering the sum of N1.050 billion through a new generation bank for the governor of the state, Rochas Okorocha.
“Uzoho’s arrest followed intelligence report that the governor intended to use the money for vote buying in favour of a particular candidate in tomorrow’s gubernatorial election. Intelligence further revealed that Mr Casmir withdrew the amount in three tranches between Tuesday and Thursday this week in the following order; N200 million on Tuesday, N500 million on Wednesday and N350 million on Thursday.
“Meanwhile, the EFCC has blocked the traced accounts, while the arrested Accountant General has been providing useful information to the commission. Mr Casmir was before his appointment, a Director of Finance in Okorocha’s government and was in 2016 fingered in N2 billion bailout fund scam, which was then given to the state by the Federal Government for the payment of salary arrears of civil servants.”