LAGOS JANUARY 31ST (URHOBOTODAY)-The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Delta State has distance Delta State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa from alleged report of $10m scam being peddled by Delta State All Progressive Congress, APC, just as it slammed the opposition party in the state for misinforming the people of Delta State so as to create confusion in the state.
Reacting to the allegation in a statement, Delta State PDP Publicity Secretary, Ifeanyi Michael Osuoza in a press release made available to Urhobotoday.com said PDP, Delta State has read with great concern a press statement issued by the fractured Delta State All Progressives Party and signed by one Engr. Leonard Obibi, who describes himself as the State Publicity Secretary (Ag) of the party, linking Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to a report in some national news dailies alleging that a Governor from one of the Oil Producing States in Nigeria, diverted $10 million bail-out fund through a so-called “mistress.”
The Delta Sate PDP mouth piece described the report as baseless, unfounded, tendentious, malicious and deliberately calculated to impugn the integrity of Governor Okowa whose reputation as a God-fearing man, astute administrator and good manager of resources is well known and had driven fear into his enemies.
“Suffice it to say that the original report by The Nation newspaper did not mention Governor Okowa and credited ‘a source within the EFCC’ for the story. Moreover, the Commission itself has not commented on the story nor suggested and confirmed their involvement. But the APC is shamelessly dragging Okowa into what is at best a speculative story and at worst the job of paid hirelings, in a desperate bid to gain relevance, further proof of their notoriety as a party of irresponsible and mischievous people. The Delta APC can be likened to a drowning man clutching at every available straw for survival,” the statement read.
The statement affirmed that in desperation to establish an ethnic link, the Delta APC described Georgina Onuoha, the central figure in a Facebook altercation relating to the story, as ‘an actress that hails from the Ika-speaking area of Delta State and based in Texas U.S.A.
” But this is a complete lie and misinformation. Georgina Onuoha has told the world that she is from Ihitte/Uboma Local Government Area of Imo State. She also disclosed for the benefit of the APC nit wits who know nothing about the cities in the United States that she lives in Sacremento, California, not Texas. So where did the APC get their own information from if not for mischief purposes?” the statement observed.
Continuing, Delta PDP argued, “For the benefit of the unsuspecting public, the statement had made it abundantly clear that State Governments DO NOT RECEIVE DOLLARS from the Federal Government, whether FAAC allocation or bail-out funds. So where did the APC get the information that Delta State received $10 million as bail-out fund if it is not the figment of their own imagination?
“If we are to go by their phantom story, how was it diverted? Was it by wire transfer? How is that kind of transaction possible given the stringent foreign exchange regulations currently in place in Nigeria? Or is the Delta APC suggesting that $10 million was moved by cash through the nation’s airports? Can such a huge amount of money be transferred into the United States without triggering the red flag at both the Financial Intelligence Units in Nigeria and the United States of America, because they receive, analyse and distribute financial intelligence gathered from Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) on per seconds basis? Can the ailing APC do Deltans a favour by giving us the details of the account that the $10 million was diverted to since it claimed that the money has been traced to a particular bank account?”