•Berate the petitioners, Okowa’s critics

By Matthias Ogbagah

UGHELLI – The Former Commissioner for Higher Education, Delta State, Prof. Patrick Muoboghare, has reacted to the alleged N1.3 trillion embezzled by the immediate governor of Delta State, Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa, describing it as laughable.
Prof.Muoboghare, who was fielding questions from newsmen recently at Edjekota-Ogor, Ughelli North local government area, Delta State, said Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa is innocent of the allegation.

According to him, N1.3 trillion is equivalent to N1,300 Bn, and Okowa spent ninety-six (96) months in office for his two tenures of eight years as the governor of the state. This means he got N13bn naira every month, and he stole N13 Bn from the state allocation every month, which is very laughable.
Muoboghare queried if Sen. Ifeanyi Okowa took N13bn from the state allocation every month, where did he get money to construct roads, hospitals, schools, and emergencies.

“This is a state to construct one kilometer road in the riverine areas of the state, it will construct yen kilometer road in palaces like Ibadan, and Enugu, eight to ten kilometers of road.

Those who wrote the petition God willingly are tired of the case and abandoned, so nothing is there is dead on arrival, he noted.
“Let me tell you the main attack was that the money is meant for 13% derivation and by law of Delta State a percentage of the money should go Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADE) that is the law of Delta State House of Assembly, the budget is also the law of the Delta State House of Assembly so whatever that come to Delta State whether 13% derivation, Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), VAT, regular allocation they are all income to the state.

Any income to the state is reported to the House of Assembly for appropriation, so if the Delta State House of Assembly decides to appropriate the 13% derivation the way it needs to be and the Governor spends it, you can not call that fraud.
Muoboghare further queried if the ex-governor should sell the universities he used the money to build and refund the money? The money is shared among the ministries, and Okowa is innocent of the accusation of N1.3 trillion, saying that sometimes there is a supplementary budget and budget alignment.

He noted that every Nigerian believes that every other Nigerian is a thief.