Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State on Saturday punched
a protocol officer who refused to allow him sit on a chair reserved for the
Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, at the 80th birthday celebration of
former vice president, Chief Alex Ekwueme, in Enugu.
The incident occurred 20 minutes
before most of the invited guests arrived.
SUNDAY PUNCH learnt that the seater was reserved for the host Governor,
Mr. Sullivan Chime and Obi. The Deputy Governor, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi,
represented Chime who is still out of the country.
The protocol officer, Mr. Ifeanyi
Onukuba, who works with Obi, was shocked at Okorocha’s action and before he
could recover from it, a police officer attached to the Bomb Disposal Unit in
Anambra State, Mr. Felix Alumona, pushed Okorocha when he was removing the tag
bearing Obi’s name from the seat.
Our correspondent observed that
Okorocha’s Aide de Camp, Gabriel Onu, immediately pounced on Alumona, hitting
and tearing his uniform, while other security details attached to the Imo
governor joined in the scuffle.
Sensing that the matter was beginning
to attract people, Okorocha quickly waded in, saying, “Hey, please stop the
fight! Let us not fight over an ordinary seat. I will share the seat with Peter
Obi.”
Minutes after the fracas, Okorocha’s
aides grumbled saying, “Why is it that anywhere we go, they always reserve a
special seat for Obi. Is Okorocha not the leader of Ndigbo?”
When Obi arrived, he squeezed himself in the couch,
sitting between Onyebuchi and Okorocha
The fact is that the Punch reporter is bent on tarnishing the image of the Governor. He is a paid agent. Even if the story is true, the thing he claimed to have been said by Okorocha's aid after the fight is a big lie which makes nonsense of the story as well as clarifies the wicked intentions of the reporter.“Why is it that anywhere we go, they always reserve a special seat for Obi. Is Okorocha not the leader of Ndigbo?”
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