2019 election: Group accuses Okowa of diverting N3bn Paris Club fund

A Niger Delta group, Centre for Peace and Environmental Justice, has alleged that Delta State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has diverted the N3billion share of the state from the Paris Club refund into secret accounts for the funding of his re-election in 2019.
But the Delta State Government denied the group’s allegation, describing it as frivolous.
The CEPEJ said several efforts by Deltans to find out from the state government how it had spent its share of Paris club refund had fallen on deaf ears.
CEPEJ National Coordinator, Sheriff Mulade, therefore, called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to beam its searchlight on the finances of the state government and compel it to release information on how the state’s share of the Paris Club refund was spent.
He alleged that a huge part of the money had been diverted to boost the war chest of the governor in preparation for the 2019 governorship election in the state.
Mulade said, “The EFCC had kept mute on some of the issues we have raised, especially on the issues of the diversion of the Paris Club refund. Some of these funds have been diverted in Delta State in readiness for the 2019 elections and the state government has not been able to come out openly to debunk this allegation to a reasonable level to calm the people.
“We have information that about N3billion of the Paris Club refund has been diverted to a secret account for the 2019 election. The governor has put machinery in place to secure and force himself on us again because we do not practise true democracy.”
“I have said this times without number, that we do not practise true democracy in Nigeria, because if we do, a lot of the leaders that we have today are not supposed to be there. We believe so much in the imposition of candidates during primaries and this is the reason we do not have good leaders,” he said.
He accused the EFCC of selective investigations, saying that only those not in the good books of the FG were being haunted by the anti-graft agency while allowing those close to the corridors of power to go scot-free.
The CEPEJ coordinator said, “Let me commend the EFCC for their activities. It takes strength in gathering evidence to fight corruption in this country. However, most of us are disappointed in the EFCC because of the way and manner they go about the fight. It looks selective. Corruption has eaten deep into the fabric of the nation. They are beaming their searchlight only on political office holders, who are from the opposition party.
“The EFCC has not been able to go to some of these states to find out if these allegations we have raised are true or not. If they had not been doing selective investigation, and looking for only opposition party states, they would have done better than this. But as it is right now, it is only those who are not in good terms with the Federal Government that they are going after.”
Mulade added, “In Delta State, we are not happy with the EFCC because Okowa has not been able to tell us what he is doing or has done with our 13 per cent derivation funds.
“Fifty per cent of this fund is supposed to be given to the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission. But today, as I am talking to you, DESOPADEC has not done any project since 2015. All the projects carried out by DESOPADEC since 2015 are all abandoned projects. Today, there is no single project in all the oil-producing communities, which DESOPADEC is supposed to cover. The state governor has not been able to tell us how he has used the 50 per cent that is going to DESOPADEC.”
He lamented that most of the oil-bearing communities had been suffering untold hardship.
“For the past three years, there has been no single project in all the oil producing communities. Unfortunately most of the projects you hear today are awarded on paper, executed on paper and commissioned on paper.
Reacting to the CEPEJ allegations, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, said that the group’s allegations against Okowa should not be taken seriously.
Aniagwu, who spoke to our correspondent in Warri on the phone, said there was no truth in all the allegations, adding that the funds were used judiciously in the interest of the state.
He warned opposition political parties in the state to avoid inciting the people with false information.
The governor’s spokesman insisted that the N10 billion received by Okowa from the Federal Government as the state’s share of the Paris Club refund had not been misappropriated as being alleged.
He said, “We have observed the continued misinformation by some leaders of the opposition All Progressive Congress in the state, in which they paint pictures that are at variance with the realities on ground about our projects and programmes, both completed and ongoing.