By Yemi Yusuf
Chief Edwin Clark, a former federal commissioner of information, has accused the immediate past Governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, of misappropriating over N1 trillion of the 13 per cent oil derivation fund for the state.
The fund goes from the federation account to oil-producing communities through their state governments as contained in section 162 (2) of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Chief Clark who spoke as a guest on Arise TV’s “The Morning Show” on Wednesday alleged that Mr Okowa misappropriated the funds during his time as governor of Delta State.
The former federal commissioner who leads the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), said they had been blaming the federal government for lack of development in the South-south without knowing that the governors in the region have been “stealing the money” for the region’s development.
The immediate past Governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike, had in November 2022 revealed that the federal government had paid a backlog of oil derivation funds to the oil-producing states in the country.
Shortly after Mr Wike’s revelation, Garba Shehu, the spokesperson to then President Muhammadu Buhari, released details of the funds released to nine oil-producing states, with Delta State getting the highest allocation of N296.63 billion.
Mr Clark said the revelations prompted him to confront Mr Okowa, through a letter, to account for the funds.
“He (Okowa) said he had been spending the money. The answer they gave me was that they spent N5 billion on paying pensioners. How does that come under 13 per cent?” Mr Clark said. “They also spent the money building a university in Okowa’s village.”
The former federal commissioner said he was dissatisfied with the former governor’s response and had to hire a lawyer who obtained, from the accountant general’s office, the certified copy of all the derivation funds paid to the state from 2007 to December 2022.
“The one paid to Delta State came to N1.767 trillion,” he said.
The PANDEF leader said the law establishing the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) stated that 50 per cent of the 13 per cent should be given to the DESOPADEC. However, the governor held unto the whole funds.
DESOPADEC is an interventionist agency established to manage the 13 per cent oil derivation fund to drive infrastructural development of the oil-producing communities in the state.
“Instead of paying 50 per cent (of the N1.760 trillion) to the DESOPADEC as provided by the law, which is automatic, he (Okowa) now held the 13 per cent fund- the entire money, dishing out instalmentally and approving every contract the DESOPADEC had awarded,” he said.
Mr Clark said he wrote a second letter to Mr Okowa and also copied the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) complaining that the governor had floated a private commercial bank, Premium Bank, which he allegedly used to lodge all the derivation funds.
“I also mentioned in the letter that he (Okowa) has 13 companies. I told him that he put the 13 per cent (derivation funds) into these 13 companies and let him deny it.”
“So, Okowa has embezzled our money. It’s not even accounted for in his annual budget,” Mr Clark stated, pointing out that embezzlement had made some governors wealthier than their states.
He did not, however, mention if the EFCC responded to his letter. When reminded by one of the programme anchors, Reuben Abati, that Mr Okowa had denied ownership of the Premium bank, Mr Clark said the former governor lied, insisting that he knew the bank’s history.
Mr Okowa was the running mate to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, who hails from Adamawa, a state in North-east Nigeria.
Mr Clark accused Mr Okowa of betraying Southern Nigerians and the people from Middle Belt in accepting to be Atiku’s running mate and spending Delta State’s funds on their campaigns despite a decision by Southern and Middle Belt leaders that the north should not produce the president in 2023.
“But he (Okowa) violated it. He was very happy going about (as Atiku’s running mate), claiming that he is an Igbo man,” Mr Clark said, explaining that Mr Okowa’s alignment with Atiku, a northerner, made them oppose their ambition.
When contacted on Wednesday, Charles Aniagwu, who served as the commissioner for information under Mr Okowa’s administration, denied the allegations.
Mr Aniagwu said Mr Clark belongs to a “different political persuasion” at the moment and that “his partisan consideration” was influencing his views.
“Everything he (Clark) mentioned in that interview is not the true position of things. When you have 13 per cent derivation coming into an oil-producing state, that is part of the revenue they use in running the state,” he claimed.
“It is not 13 per cent for oil-producing communities. It is for the state; otherwise, we would have elevated it to the level of oil-producing families.”
