Mr Reuben Okoro

Orlu youths under the aegis of Orluzurumee Youth Assembly (OYA) have once more distanced themselves and the entire zone from the criminal claims to Orluzurumee National leadership by Chief Barr Reuben Okoro.

They posited that, “it is lately been a source of worry to the people of Orlu zone, that Chief Reuben Okoro, a man who has long been booted out of Orluzurumee to still go about defrauding unsuspecting members of the public in the name of Orluzurumee”. They expressed total dismay that despite his disgraceful removal, “he has continued to recruit some misguided youths to perpetuate himself in office”.

This is according to a press release captioned “Reuben Okoro has long been expelled from Orluzurumee, his latest extortions and recruitment of fake groups must be resisted”, which was signed by Comrade Ozokwere Galore as Secretary of BOT and made available to our reporter in Owerri,yesterday.

In the release, Orluzurumee youth Assembly narrated the shameful history of Reuben Okoro thus “first, on November 5, 2015, the General Assembly of Orluzurumee suspended Chief Reuben Okoro from Orluzurumee on allegations of seizure of the group’s property and conversion of same to personal use, extortion and purported collapse of Orluzurumee into a political party. This was published on page 11 of Nigeria Newspoint Newspaper of November 6, 2015. Chief Okoro has never put up a single line of defense till date.

Second, in 2012, Chief Okoro along with Prof. David Akubukwe on behalf of Orluzurumee Cultural Union had instituted a court action against Chris Esiobu and Emmanuel Amafili, vide Suit NO:HOR/26/2012 at the High Court in Orlu over issues of substitution of names of BoT and executive members. On Tuesday, July 9, 2013, the court, presided over by Hon. Justice C.A. Ononeze-Madu, ordered as follows, “It is the further order of this court restraining both parties from acting in any way or parading in any form as executive members of Orluzurumee Cultural Union pending the determination of the substantive suit”. That court order which has proscribed Chief Okoro from parading himself in whatever form as Orluzurumee leader has not been vacated.

Third, in furtherance of his morbid and covetous drive to keep enriching himself with a common patrimony, Chief Okoro in 2018 instituted a fresh court action at the Orlu judicial division of the Imo State High Court against the valid leadership of Orluzurumee  headed by Chief Emeka Diwe, vide Suit NO:HOR/40/2018. He was seeking the court to order Diwe to hand over the assets of the group to him. On April 8, 2019, Hon. Justice L.C. Azuama delivered judgment. The court struck out his case on the grounds that having been duly expelled from the group and his hands tied by an extant court order, “Chief Okoro is not competent to appear before the court” and has no right over the property of the defendants. This judgment has dumped Chief Okoro into the dustbin of history as long as Orluzurumee is concerned.

Thereafter, Chief Okoro came up with the idea of recruiting people and calling them Orluzurumee. He recruited McDonald Akano as President-General, who after discovering that the whole thing was a fraud ran away. He also recruited Chidi Steve Agbarakwe as President-General and fronted for a polytechnic racket which failed and Agbarakwe ran away.

Yet again he recruited Sam Ukonu as President-General, and together they have been going about parading as Orluzurumee. Recently at Njaba, they claimed they have been reconciled with and readmitted into Orluzurumee, and went ahead to extort varying amounts of money from people both for registration and for nomination into positions. This is really pathetic!

We wish to state categorically that the expulsion of Chief Reuben Okoro from Orluzurumee is total, permanent, forever, unchangeable and irreversible. We also wish to clarify that the so-called youth wing which he is parading is fake, fraudulent, non-existent and completely mischievous. There is only one umbrella union of all Orlu youths, and it is called Orluzurumee Youth Assembly. It has been incorporated and recognized by law, and the shadowy characters being paraded by Chief Okoro are unknown to us.

We therefore warn Chief Okoro for the last time to stop impersonating Orluzurumee and flaunting some miscreants as Orluzurumee Youths. Any further attempt to bring this revered apex socio-cultural group in Orlu Zone to disrepute will elicit a mass action by the entire Orlu youths and will be dealt with by the law enforcement agencies decisively”,the release stated.

In a seperate release,dated March 10,2020,with caption”Imo politicians should support Uzodinma to develop Imo State”,Orluzurumee Youth Assembly condemned in its strong terms the attack on the governor,stating that elections are over and litigations arising therefrom concluded as such,the attacks on the governor have become quite unnecessary.

According to the group,they will no longer tolerate any attempt to disrespect the  office of the governor saying that,”To be clear, that coveted seat is the embodiment of our collective will and so it commands our collective loyalty, and any attempt to undermine or repudiate that sacred institution will not be tolerated by us. The attack on the vehicle of the Governor at Nmahu in Ohaji/Egbema on Sunday is condemnable.

Indeed, for too long, Ohaji/Egbema has remained the goose that lays the golden egg yet has remained impoverished and marginalized. Successive leaderships in the State have not shown sincere commitment to addressing the basic needs of the people. It is therefore exciting that Governor Uzodinma has chosen to adopt a different approach which will ensure that the resources of the people are no longer frittered away. He deserves to be commended on that”,they concluded.

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