By  CHIDI NKWOPARA
OWERRI—Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State has approved the immediate sack of the Interim Management Committee, IMC, of government- owned multi-million naira oil palm plantation, Adapalm Nigeria Limited, led by Christian Nnadumije Igwe.

This came as workers of the company stormed Government House, Owerri, in protest against alleged high-handedness and fraud perpetrated by the committee.

The sack letter, signed by the Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Professor Anthony Anwuka, also made it clear that a new management team would be constituted by government later.

Acting under the umbrella body of Agriculture and Allied Employers Union of Nigeria, AAEUN, and led by their Chairman, ComradePaul Nwankwo, the aggrieved workers carried placards that bore unprintable inscriptions.

The IMC Chairman was similarly accused of illegally and arbitrarily sacking staff and intimidating others to submission, as well as engineering serious in-fighting in the establishment.

Meanwhile, Igwe has denied that he ever received N80 million from the governor, which the workers accused him of embezzling, adding that all he tried to do was eliminate all avenues of financial leakages in Adapalm.

He said part of his alleged sins was the fact that he refused to sign a N170,000 annual rent agreement with MTN to mount its mast in the plantation, stressing that the deal should not be less than N500,000 per year.

Igwe blamed the wrangling in Adapalm on pecuniary interest of a syndicate peopled by harvesters, staff and some powerful and highly placed individuals in the state. He, however, failed to mention members of the syndicate.