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Court summons Okorocha over alleged breach of peace

By Collins Osuji, Owerri
11 September 2019   |   3:43 am
Imo State Magistrate Court sitting in Owerri has ordered former Governor Rochas Okorocha to appear before it on October 8, 2019, for alleged breach of public peace.

Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo State. Photo/OwelleRochas/

Imo State Magistrate Court sitting in Owerri has ordered former Governor Rochas Okorocha to appear before it on October 8, 2019, for alleged breach of public peace.

The summons dated September 5, which had the state’s attorney-general as the complainant, also ordered that Okorocha, who is now representing Imo West in the Senate, should be served “by pasting same at his Spibat residence and publishing same in any daily newspaper within the state.”

The order reads, “It is hereby ordered that the defendant appears in court on October 8, 2019 to show cause why he should not be ordered to enter into a recognisance for keeping the peace and to be of good behaviour towards the complainant.

“Complaint has made that you (Okorocha) have consistently been in the deplorable habit of fomenting trouble and inciting your supporters to disobey the government of the day; that you have been in the habit of making seditious and inciting statements against the government.”

Meanwhile, Okorocha, through his Special Adviser on Media, Sam Onwuemeodo, denied fomenting any trouble, describing the order as embarrassing and a bad example.

In another development, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Imo West has rejected the ruling of the election petition tribunal on the March 9, 2019 senatorial election in the area, describing it as unacceptable, miscarriage of justice and a rape on democracy.

The tribunal sitting in Abuja had on Monday sustained the declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Okorocha, as the winner of the poll.

Speaking to newsmen in Owerri yesterday, Imo West PDP chairman, Chief Alloy Igwe, said that the election was marred by violence and irregularities, and as such should not have stood.

He said the party would stand behind its candidate, Jones Onyereri, to seek a better judgement at the Court of Appeal that would represent the true mandate of the people.

“We feel very bad over the judgement. We look at it as one that has deprived people of their right of participation in politics. It is a rape of people’s representation,” he said.

In the same vein, some political leaders in the area, including Chief Chris Anyiam and Nze Eze Ugochukwu, have described the tribunal’s verdict as an aberration to the ethos of democracy.

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