By Francis Sadhere, Warri
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State has denied knowledge of any missing 48 billion naira funds allegedly belonging to the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC.
The All Progressives Congress (APC), Delta state chapter had alleged that the missing DESOPADEC funds represented 50% of N97.2 billion that had accrued and have been paid by the Federal Government in respect of 13 per cent derivation funds that is specifically meant for developing oil-producing areas in Delta State since May 2015 till date.
But in a swift reaction, the Chief Press Secretary to Okowa, Charles Aniedu who spoke to our correspondent through the telephone said the accusation was a figment of the imagination of the writer, stressing that the state government has no knowledge of such money.
Aniedu who denied ever speaking to anybody concerning the matter, noted that the APC cannot divert Governor Okowa’s attention from carrying on with his development agenda for the state which is clearly spelt out in his SMART agenda.
He said, “We will not be distracted, we have our agenda that we have clearly spelt out in the SMART agenda and our mantra, Prosperity for All Deltans. We will not lose focus on account of people who do not have jobs to do.
“We have a job to do and we are very much aware that they do not have a job to do, so the only thing they do is to sit down and manufacture such malicious publications.
“Does Prophet Jones have a job apart for looking for something that he will just cook up in his room? Such people sit in their rooms and expect us to chase them. We will not waste our time over such things. Please help us tell them that we are too busy to be disturbed by such malicious and unfounded publication. Let them look for something much more serious, and then we will respond.
“So this is why I said that that statement is the figment of the imagination of whoever wrote it. In the first place we are not aware of the money that we are talking about. The money they are claiming that we misappropriated we have not even seen it. You must have the money first before you talk about diversion. So it is the pigment of imagination of the writer.
“So, we will not waste our time on glorifying or giving strength to that weak or malicious publication by the APC. APC should think of how to organize themselves in Delta so that they can even win a ward in the next election. That is what they should be busy doing and not to be looking for how to distract us.”
