- Accuses police, DSS of invading office
- You must return govt properties in your possession- ITC Chairman
By Damian Duruiheoma, Owerri
A former commissioner for transportation and coordinator of Rochas Okorocha’s Rescue Mission Family, Chief Lasbery Okoaforanyu has cried out that his life and that of members of his family are in danger.
Okoaforanyu, who raised the alarm at a press briefing in Owerri, the Imo State capital on Thursday, said the state governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma should be held responsible if anything untoward happens to him or any member of his family.
According to him, “At about 6.33 am this morning, I received a call from my security man in my transport company, Mass Transport Network Co. Ltd (MTN), informing me of early morning invasion by more than hundred armed policemen, officers of the Department of Security Services, soldiers and some men who seem to be thugs and hoodlums.
“They invaded MTN Co. Ltd, harassed and chased the passengers that were already loaded from their vehicles and preventing the vehicles from going out of the premises”.
He also accused the security agents of recklessly taking away about 20 buses belonging to the Mass Transport Network Co. Ltd with the towing vans with which they came into the company’s premises, saying he lost over N500 million to the invasion.
According to him, the security agents, who came without any court order of police warrant, told his staff that they came on the orders of the governor, Senator Hope Uzodimma.
“They were heard shouting, ‘Where is Lasbery Okaforanyanwu. I don’t know any other reason that would have warranted this invasion.
“They took away my chief driver, Eddy Akano and scores of drivers.
“Till now, there is no court order, to the best of my knowledge and nobody has invited me for any findings.
“I think my main problem is because I am the state coordinator of Rescue Mission Family, a political structure of Senator Governor Rochas Okorocha. That’s a political difference I have with Governor Hope Uzodimma.
He further stated, “I don’t have governor’s direct number and the ones I have, are not being answered”
Okaforanyanwu disclosed that he called the state commissioner of police, Isaac Akinmoyede, who directed him to call the deputy commissioner of police, operations for details.
“With this, my life is in danger. I want the President, Muhammadu Buhari and the Inspector General of Police to save me and call the governor to order and let them return my property they carted away,” he said
The spokesman of the state police command, Orlando Ikeokwu confirmed the invasion.
Ikeokwu stated that the Imo Transport Company brought a petition alleging that some of the company’s buses were missing and that they were traced to five private companies.
“It is that petition that we are working on and investigation is still ongoing,” he said.
When contacted, the chairman of the Imo Transport Company (ITC), Ibezim Onyekachi, admitted petitioning the police to retrieve the company’s vehicles in private hands.
He said his management has a mandate from Governor Hope Uzodimma to recover properties of the government-owned company.
According to Ibezim, the former commissioner and others converted the vehicles belonging to ITC to private business.
He said, “Lasbery Okoaforanyu alone has about 64 buses belonging to ITC. There are others too. But we won’t rest until we recover all of them.”
