Former Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, has blamed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for instigating reports that he was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Okorocha's tenure as Imo governor expired on Wednesday, May 29, 2019 and he was replaced by Emeka Ihedioha, the PDP candidate that beat his All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state's March 9 governorship election.
Media reports had claimed early on Thursday, May 30 that EFCC operatives arrested Okorocha, his wife, Nkechi, and some relatives on lingering charges of misappropriation of funds and money laundering. However, the story turned out to be false as the EFCC described it as fake news.

In a statement signed by Okorocha's spokesperson, Sam Onwuemeodo, he said the false story is a manifestation of PDP's propaganda with no atom of truth.
The statement read, "The fact is that the new PDP government in the state has decided not to toe the path of honour but has decided to continue the old way of the party, by trading on lies or falsehood. They call it propaganda. The new government is behind the false story. They even called some media editors to make the story headline. 
"We only want to ask them to leave responsible institutions or establishments like EFCC out of their dirty tracks, especially in dishing out their lies. 
"The PDP in the state had written and sponsored a lot of petitions to agencies and commissions against the former governor. They had told their supporters that the former governor would be whisked away by the EFCC hours after the inauguration on May 29, 2019, and that is the reason behind this falsehood."
Despite the turn of events, there's been tension between Okorocha and the EFCC who have traded allegations over the past few months.
The former governor had long complained that the EFCC was being used by his party to persecute him due to his rift with national chairman, Adams Oshiomhole.
He accused the anti-graft agency of operating different schemes to frustrate his government including freezing the state's account.
In response to one of his claims last week, the EFCC explained that it did not block the state's statutory allocation and expenditure, but obtained a freeze order to stop the suspicious disbursement of funds during the state's governorship election in March.