A High Court in Owerri on Monday ordered the final forfeiture of properties allegedly owned by former Governor of Imo State, Senator Rochas Okorocha and his family members.
Okorocha, who is now a Senator representing Imo West Senatorial Zone, Owelle Rochas Okorocha, have been asked to permanently forfeit over 500 properties to the Imo State Government.
It was gathered that the properties listed in pages 226 to 272 of the Imo state White Paper report on recovery of lands and other related matters, were acquired by them between 2011 and 2019.
Justice Fred Njemanze gave the final forfeiture order while delivering judgment in a suit marked HOW/M1191/2021 instituted by Louis Alozie on behalf of the state government.
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But Okorocha’s lead counsel, Oba Maduabuchi, vowed to challenge the judgment in a higher court.
He described the verdict as “perfidy of justice,” saying that “even a primary school pupil knows that it cannot stand.”
The court had in February ordered the interim forfeiture of all the properties. It had also asked Okorocha, who was the state governor from 2011 to 2019 to show reason(s) why he should not permanently forfeit the properties.
In his judgment yesterday, Justice Njemanze noted that the legal team failed to give verifiable reasons why a final and absolute forfeiture order should not be given in favour of the government.
The judge also held that the application against the government by Okorocha’s lawyers was not properly filed. He described it as a “surplusage,” a term in law that means a useless statement completely irrelevant to a matter.
Njemanze maintained that the White Paper by the government is a legally binding document.
