Delta group defends Okowa in the N1tn diversion case

The immediate-past governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, has come under fire for allegedly diverting half of the 13% derivation fund accruable to the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, according to the Delta State chapter of the Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas.

Several representatives of Delta State’s oil and gas producing communities reportedly stormed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s Abuja headquarters on Thursday to protest the alleged misappropriation of the state’s over N1 trillion oil derivation fund under the Okowa administration.

But the Delta HOSTCOM described last week’s anti-Okowa protest as politically motivated in a statement released on Thursday by its chairman, Sunday Enujeke, and secretary, Joseph Lamienghan.

According to Delta HOSTCOM, the orchestrated campaign is “considered as a calculated attempt to mislead, confuse, and invite the unsuspecting public against the person of Dr. Okowa by his traducers.”

The group claims that the immediate-past administration in Delta State “had used judiciously” the 13% Oil Derivation Fund allocated for the development of oil and gas bearing communities in the state.

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The Ijaw elder statesman Edwin Clark was urged by Delta HOSTCOM “not to allow himself to be used by these political hustlers and desperate power mongers seeking to settle cheap political scores.”

Delta HOSTCOM also urged the current governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, “to build on the infrastructural development agenda of the immediate-past administration by putting in place tangible physical development for the teeming residents of the creeks in the Delta riverine areas.”