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Ihedioha Defends Appointing Fraud Suspect Into His Inauguration Committee

Ihedioha, who took over office from Rochas Okorocha as governor of Imo, had picked Odionyenma and others to handle different assignments ahead of his inauguration on May 29.

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Imo State Governor, Emeka Ihedioha, has defended his decision to appoint Chika Odionyenma, a suspect on the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation list of suspected Internet fraudster, as a member of his inauguration committee.

Ihedioha, who took over office from Rochas Okorocha as governor of Imo, had picked Odionyenma and others to handle different assignments ahead of his inauguration on May 29.

In the letter of appointment to Odionyenma, Governor Ihedioha had said, “Following my declaration as governor-elect of Imo State by the Independent National Electoral Commission and my subsequent receipt of the certificate of return, I have duly constituted an inauguration planning and handover committee.”

But reacting to the naming of Odionyenma in the fraud by the FBI, Ihedioha, through his media aide, said that there was no such allegation against the young man at the time he appointed him into his inauguration committee.

He stated that all those linking him to the said fraud are merely mischief makers trying to distract his administration from serving the people of the state well.

He said, “It is important to note that as of the time the governor appointed him into the inauguration committee, there was no fraud case hanging around his (Odionyenma) neck anywhere in the world.

“He is an indigene of Imo and it was in that capacity that the governor attended his programmes.

“Those who say that he sponsored the governor’s election are just being mischievous.

“The fraud case is personal. It has nothing to do with the governor.”