The Imo State government has released court documents and the police invitation to confirm that a bench warrant was issued for the arrest of former Governor Rochas Okorocha.

The documents, which were published by the state government in The Nation and The Sun yesterday, included the bench warrant, the police invitation letter and a reply from Okorocha’s lawyers.

According to Imo State Commissioner for Information, Public Orientation and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, the documents shows that the claim by Senator Okorocha’s aide, Sam Onwuemeodo, that there was no police invitation extended to the ex-governor is false.

Onwuemeodo at the weekend gave media houses that published the court order requesting police officers across Nigeria to arrest him 48 hours to produce evidence of the bench warrant or apologise.

The Imo State Government, however, said that it was compelled to publish the court documents, which were already in the public domain, following insinuations by the former governor that it was behind his travails.

According to the commissioner, the INEC petition, which sought an investigation into the same alleged offences of criminal conspiracy and forgery, was separate from the earlier police investigation, although both cases involved the former governor.

The commissioner said: “The story of the petition by INEC against Okorocha was joined to that of the bench warrant because they were related in content, not because it arose from what transpired in Abuja. It is a normal practice in journalism. Okorocha decided to take it out of context.”

Emelumba said the documents had now established that the police obtained the bench warrant because Okorocha evaded arrest by failing to report to the Force Headquarters on the required date.

He said that, with the evidence now made public, the former governor should come out of hiding and surrender himself to the police.

It explained that it had released not only a copy of the bench warrant but also a police invitation letter to Okorocha, indicating that he was being investigated for criminal conspiracy and forgery even before the petition by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Other documents published by the State Government showed that the former governor failed to make himself available on the date set by the Police Force Headquarters, Abuja.

According Emelumba, the police, in a letter dated August 21, signed by DCP Aliyu Abubakar, summoned Okorocha to appear at the Force Headquarters on September 2, in connection with an investigation into alleged criminal conspiracy and forgery.

However, following a letter from Okorocha’s lawyers, D. Azipu Aka Chambers, the invitation was extended to September 8, a date the former governor allegedly failed to honour.

It was gathered that the police subsequently sought a bench warrant from the court for the arrest of the former governor and others after he failed to honour the invitation.

Emelumba noted that the report on the court order did not state that the action was based on the petition submitted by INEC on September 9. (Text, excluding headline: The Nation)