Governor Hope Uzodinma of Imo State, yesterday, said he had no personal dispute with his predecessor, Senator Rochas Okorocha.

The clash between the supporters of the governor and his predecessor resulted into to the death of two persons on Sunday over the sealing of Royal Spring Palm Estate Hotel, Akachi, by the state government.

The All Progressive Congress (APC) in the state is tangled in a crisis following the political differences and feud between Okorocha and Uzodinma.

Speaking after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House, the governor faulted the claims that he was plotting Okorocha’s assassination.

“I don’t know about any attempt to assassinate Okorocha, rather what I know, is I have no personal issues with Okorocha.

“You will recall that before I became governor, the Ihedioha administration set up a judicial panel of inquiry to look into acquisitions and allegations of lands, converting government lands to personal property, and then removing private lands from individuals and giving them other individuals.

“The judicial panel of inquiry chaired by a judge met and they brought their job to a conclusion. And a white paper has since been raised.

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“You know institutions and agencies that are involved with implementation are doing their job. And the only thing I know is that a few days ago, the former governor went with his thugs to one of the properties sealed by government. You people saw it, it was live.

“He went there with thugs, wounded the policemen there, wounded the NSCDC officer, who is currently still in the hospital and then broke in and entered.

“Of course, you must have heard him say that he is richer than government and that he is above the law. I am not directly involved. It is a position taken by government.

“There is a difference between governor and government. The government of Imo State sealed the property. And I think that if there is anything anybody considers not right, the person should go to court to redress the issue and not take the law into one’s hand, or take to self-help.

“I remember that under Ihedioha, there was a recovery committee, chaired by one Jasper Ndubaku. When they tried to visit Okorocha’s house, they were beaten to a stupor. And the same man who did that is now doing the same thing and almost killed the man who did it during his time,” Uzodinma said.

Meanwhile, Okorocha has debunked the claims that all the 14 persons arrested in connection with the invasion of Royal Palm Spring Hotel were his aides.

Okorocha, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser (Media), Sam Onwuemeodo, said only two of the defendants were his aides.

He said 11 others were staff of the hotel, while one was a social media influencer, who was there to do his job.

Virtually abandoned Philip Umeadi’s suit against Governor Hope Uzodinma wherein he is praying the Supreme Court of Nigeria to interpret its judgment on December 20, 2019 which disqualified Uche Nwosu as the candidate of the APC by virtue of double nomination by both the APC and AA appears to have resurfaced.

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Uche Nwosu in a fresh suit with Philip Umeadi  Jnr is asking court to declare Ihedioha winner who according to him was the next person that got the highest number of votes in the April 9th Governorship election in Imo.

Recall that Philip Umeadi had on his own instituted suit against the Governor of Imo State, Senator Hope Uzodinma where he prayed the Supreme Court to interpret its December 2019 judgment where it ruled amongst others that Uche Nwosu was nominated by both the APC and the AA, and as such stands disqualified by virtue of section 37 of 2010 electoral act as amended.

While the Supreme court is yet to hear the pending suit, which has lasted for over one year, Uche Nwosu now approached same court now using same Philip Umeadi as a counsel to remove Uzodinma as the Governor of Imo State.

Although Uche Nwosu had at the time of this report not informed any personal reasons behind his sudden decision to drag Uzodinma to court on a matter which was believed he had given up to, by accompanying Uzodinma to Owerri amongst other leaders on the day of inauguration, but unconfimed sources revealed to Lead that his decision may not be far from the attitude of Uzodinma towards his father in-law, Rochas Okorocha in the recent times.

Few days ago, the Government of Imo State led by Uzodinma converted the Eastern Palm University, allegedly built by Okorocha with the state resources into the state University

In addition to that, the Royal Spring Palm Apartment belonging to Okorocha was seized by the State Government amongst others.

The ex-governor of Imo State Rochas Okorocha has been released by the Imo State Police Command.

This was disclosed by the Spokesperson for the state police command, Orlando Ikeokwu, on a Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ programme on Monday.

Ikeokwu said Okorocha was released on Sunday night after he was “invited” for “questioning” for unsealing the Spring Palm Estate linked to his wife, Nkechi.

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“He was released later at night,” the PPRO said, adding, “If anybody is found culpable, definitely, he will be charged to court. If investigation proves that he (Okorocha) has committed an offence, he will be charged to court.”

Earlier, the ex-governor stormed the estate with his supporters, policemen, soldiers and personnel of Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps on Sunday morning and ordered the unsealing of the estate.

Okorocha had alleged that his predecessor, Governor Hope Uzodimma, attacked him with “more than 1,000 thugs” but the state Commissioner for Information, Declan Emelumba, dismissed Okorocha’s claims.

Emelumba said that the former governor’s arrest was in line with the report of a White Paper, which indicated that the Royal Palm Estate in the state was built with taxpayers’ money and not Okorocha wife’s property.