The Delta State All Progressives Congress (APC) Leaders Council has issued a two-week ultimatum to the Delta State House of Assembly to commence processes for the immediate impeachment of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa over alleged corrupt practices.
Addressing reporters over the weekend at Agbor, headquarters of Ika South Local Government Area of the state, the council said Mr. Okowa has looted the state treasury while ignoring the needs of the people of Delta State.
Speaking on behalf of the council, its coordinator, Cairo Ojougboh, said the two-week ultimatum to the state legislature to kickstart the impeachment process became imperative as the state was no longer progressing infrastructurally despite all the billions of naira that have accrued to the state since Governor Okowa took office.
Displaying some documents from the Delta State House of Assembly before the media, Mr. Ojougboh, a former presidential aide who was flanked by other leaders of the APC, stated, “I gave the Delta State House of Assembly 48 hours to produce a signed copy of the 2017 budget. Ten days after, the House has not been able to produce a copy of a budget that was passed on Wednesday, 1st February, 2017.”
He continued, “Okowa dips his ugly, sticky and wicked fingers into the state treasury, which is now his pocket, to run Delta State as out-of-pocket expenses. The 2017 DESOPADEC budget is nonexistent and we hereby call on the members from the oil producing areas to produce the budget for their constituents to peruse. The governor of Delta State awarded to himself an approval limit of N250,000,000. He then uses four memos to corner one billion naira for his personal use.
“The State Executive Council approved this fraud for him. The commissioners do not have mandate for any approval whatsoever, not even for ten naira. Delta State House of Assembly is aware of this fraud and will do nothing about it. Even in Ibori and Uduaghan administrations, the governor’s approval limit was N50 million naira. We call on the state legislature to quickly address these anomalies otherwise there will be no Delta in 2019.
“The over twenty billion naira refund released by the federal government has vanished. Okowa released 50 percent as commission to the so-called consultant, his family member, and converted 50 percent to foreign exchange to finance his super ranch in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and his housing estate in South Africa. The bailout was never used for payment of salary arrears. It was completely stolen by Okawa and family.
“Pensioners have now habitually turned Asaba to a protest ground on a daily basis. They are owed two years’ arrears. The money meant for their payment has been mismanaged, misappropriated, misapplied and embezzled. The Nigeria Labour Congress bidded N2 billion to purchase 51 percent of Delta Line. But Okowa sold 60 percent of the company for N161 million, while owing workers twelve months’ salaries. We call on the state legislature to annul the sales and investigate this heinous crime,” the APC Leaders Council stated.
In a similar vein, the senator representing Delta Central under the APC in the National Assembly, Ovie Omo-Agege, has accused Governor Okowa of looting the state treasury to a stand still.
Mr. Omo-Agege, who made the allegation on Saturday during a press briefing in his hometown of Orogun, Ughelli North LGA, challenged Mr. Okowa to respond to the allegation of running the state with a blank budget by showing the real copy of the budget to Deltans rather than raining insults on the accusers.
According to the senator, Governor Okowa has failed the people of Delta State by mismanaging billions of naira from the monthly federal allocations as well as the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC).
