By Abiola Olawale
The All Progressives Congress (APC) chapter of Delta State has berated Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State for claiming he reduced the State’s debt profile.
The party also called on the Governor to give account of he reduced Delta State’s debt profile from N500 billion to N370 billion.
Oborevwori had revealed that his administration has been able to reduced the State’s debt profile while increasing the internally generated revenue.
Reacting to the Governor’s statement, Delta State APC’s Publicity Secretary, Valentine Onojeghuo, in a press release said Oborevwori cannot use the state’s debt profile to campaign as he was the one that approved most of the loans while he was the Speaker of the State House of Assembly.
The party blamed the state’s huge debt profile on the dubious loans collected by ex-Gov Ifeanyi Okowa which was approved by Gov Oborevwori during his time as Speaker of the state’s legislature.
The statement reads in part: “A majority of these questionable loans were borrowed from a bank he (Okowa) is alleged to have vested interests. And there is no indication that the State benefited anything from this colossal amount that was borrowed as most of this money was spent on his failed presidential ambition, while the rest went into installing Sheriff Oborevwori as his successor.
“It is not a secret that Delta State is one of the states with the highest FAAC allocations and IGR, but with nothing to show for it in the last 20 years of PDP misrule.
“In the first place, the State got to this unenviable position of being the most heavily indebted state during the administration of Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, the grandfather of the ‘prosperity for all’ deception, where billions of naira were collected in dubious loans approved by the State House of Assembly under Sheriff Oborevwori as speaker.”
The party said despite that Delta is one of the states with the highest federal allocation and internally generated revenue there with nothing to show in the last twenty years of PDP misrule.
The party said the state remains one of the poorest states in terms of capital project development, adding that the only project ongoing is the Effurun and Enerhen flyover projects.
It added whereas the 13% Derivation funds, running into billions, paid during ex-President Buhari’s administration was used by Rivers ex-Gov Nyesom Wike to construct over six flyovers, ex-Gov Okowa frittered away Delta’s windfall.
