The alleged plot by the former Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha’s proxy to buy off the Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Imo State council, located along Port Harcourt Road, Owerri, which has been a subject of litigation since 2018, has been slated for hearingbon October 26,2023 at the High Court , Owerri, presided over by Hon Justice Ononaeze madu.
When contacted for comment by our correspondent, the Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists in Imo State, Comrade Precious Nwadike, stated that journalists in Imo State are committed to seeking justice at all cost. He also confirmed that there was plot to sell the secretariat to former Governor Rochas OKorocha’s proxy.
Nwadike, recalled that former Governor Rochas Okorocha, sometime in 2018, invited media practitioners in the state to a meeting where he informed them of his intention to make them millionaires if he sells the Imo NUJ Secretariat and relocates them to another place. When the journalists present at the meeting rejected his offer and insisted on retaining the secretariat which was donated to the union by Col Tanko Zubairu, a former Military Governor of the State, Okorocha, resorted to using some miscreants, who, in connivance with the then National Vice Chairman, South East of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Chris Aririguzo, who is now the National president, tried to perfect the fraudulent sale of the property and its appurtenances, in addition to allegedly collecting the sum of #20million upfront for the ignoble role”.
He further stated that, “when journalists in the state got wind of the plan to fraudulently sell their secretariat, they went to court and stopped Okorocha’s proxy from taking over the property on the ground that those who wanted to sell it do not have title”.
Comrade Nwadike, expressed happiness that the case which has lingered for so long has finally been fixed for hearing, while at the same time urging journalists in the state to be firm and resolute in their fight against corruption.
