Another dimension is beginning to emerge in the controversy surrounding the alleged N548m bribe which led to the impeachment of the Imo State Deputy Governor, Sir Jude Agbaso and his replacement with Prince Eze Madumere.
It would be recalled that Agbaso was impeached for allegedly collecting N458m bribe from Joseph Dina of JPross, a firm handling road project in Imo. However, recent developments like the discovery that the N458m is in Dina’s account and has been transferred to his personal accounts in Lebanon and Durbar, continue to generate public reactions without the State Governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha and members of his cabinet making an official reaction and statement.
However, the State Governor was forced to speak on the matter by traders at the popular New Market on Douglas Road when one of them ask Okorocha during his visit to the market to react on the latest discovery that the N458m for which his former Deputy, Agbaso, was removed, has been traced to foreign account said to be owned by JPros.
Okorocha while responding to the poser by the trader replied that he expects members of the Imo State House of Assembly to ask him such questions and not a trader in the market. The response sent shivers down the spines of the traders who were jolted by the response in New Market on Douglas Road, Owerri
Meanwhile, concerned Imo citizens under various platforms have petitioned one of the JPross board directors and shareholders, Prince Macdonald Akano to the Code Conduct Bureau and Economic and Financial Crimes Commissions, EFCC.
According to the details of the petition, the concerned Imolites are asking the Code of Conduct to prosecute Akano, who is Okorocha’s aide appointed to take charge of Project Monitoring and Implementation, for alleged perjury and failing to declare his shares in JPross in his Code of Conduct form for last year and this year. The petition requested Code of Conduct to verify why legal sanctions will not be visited on Akano for the alleged criminal act.
The group also petitioned EFCC to investigate the involvement of the Governor’s aide taking into consideration the fact that Akano as a political appointee is also a shareholder and board member of a company that allegedly defrauded Imo State Government to the time of N900m, considering the value of the contract executed so far by JPross.
While the group is worried that Akano has not denied his involvement in the whole affair, the concerned Imolites who petitioned EFCC and Code of Conduct Bureau, also accused the State Governor for keeping mute and maintaining incriminating silence over the involvement of his aide and disappearance of the N458 said to have been a bribe allegedly collected by his sacked Deputy Governor.
