As things tighten up in court for the detained former Governor of Imo State, Senator Anayo Rochas Okorocha, he has pleaded for a Federal High Court in Abuja to compel the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to immediately release him on bail.
Okorocha on Friday predicated his bail request on the ground that he is a presidential aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and that his political ambition would be jeopardized unless granted bail.
The bail application was filed before Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo and would be ruled upon any moment from now.
Incidentally, Okorocha has been slated for arraignment on ₦2.9 billion money laundering charges before the same judge twice but refused to honour the court invitation.
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EFCC operatives swooped on his Abuja residence three days ago and effected his arrest and detained him to ensure his appearance in court on Monday, May 30 to take his plea in the fraud charges.
In another report, the family of Rochas Okorocha, had also accused the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission of failing to interrogate him 24 hours after his arrest.
Africa Daily News, New York had earlier reported that EFCC operatives on Tuesday broke into Okorocha’s Abuja house after a seven-hour siege and arrested him.
The commission had explained that it arrested the former governor for jumping administrative bail earlier granted him.
In an interview with Newsmen on Wednesday night, a daughter of the former governor Uloma Okorocha, said the EFCC had not shown it was in a hurry to interrogate her father.
The development, she said, had further confirmed that her father’s arrest and detention might be part of plots to stop him from participating in the APC presidential screening and primaries.
She said, “Since his arrest, no official of the EFCC has spoken to him. He has not been interrogated, despite the desperation to arrest him. Everyone saw how they invaded his home, shooting as if they were arresting a terrorist. After several hours of showdown, they damaged the doors and some other property in the house before they whisked him away.
“There was also heavy shooting as policemen attached to the commission tried to chase away family members and supporters of the serving senator. With all these, he has not been questioned 24 hours after.”
