Nigerian senator, Rochas Okorocha has claimed that he became poorer after becoming Governor of Imo State.
The Senator representing Imo West in the National Assembly said this in an interview on Channels Television on Monday night.
Okorocha, who had declared his presidential ambition in Abuja, governed the South-East state from 2011 to 2019 before his election into the Senate.
Disclosing his source of wealth, Okorocha said he made his money through the real estate business and car sales in Abuja, adding that he was richer before his emergence as the Imo State governor.
The federal lawmaker claimed that he fed himself and drove his personal vehicles throughout when he was in the Imo state government house, adding that he singlehandedly funded his foundation before he became the governor.
Okorocha, however, alleged that the state is owing him N8 billion as money meant for security votes during his administration.
He said: “Those who say I was broke are liars, that is a fabricated fallacy. If you talked about Nigerians blessed by God, I raised my hands to say I’m one of them.
“Sometimes, it makes me want to sound boisterous, that is not good for me, I don’t like doing that but recently I begin to talk and clarify issues. One, I want to say to you that I was Rochas before I became governor, in fact, the governor made me poorer.
“If you could go to the code of conduct bureau before I became governor, my real estate alone in Abuja here I’m sure you can find one, two, three and four people who can count on it.
“Let me say something that might shock you, I had Rochas Foundation schools, so many of them. At that time before I became governor, over 18,000 (referring to his schools.
“I know that to feed these children and educate them it does not cost anything less than N500 a day. Calculate that and know whether there is any day I wake up that N10 million, N15 million does not go out of my pocket.
“How much is Imo state government money? Imo state is really owing me because I never collected my security votes. I am supposed to collect from Imo state now N8 billion if I have to make claims for security votes I did not collect.
“I fed myself throughout in the government house when I was there, I used my personal cars for me to introduce free education in Imo state.”