From Jerome Ifeanyi
All is not currently well in the seat of power of Delta State Government as they are currently under discreet investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) following a 48 page petition written against the State Governor, Mr Ifeanyi Okowa, Victor Ebegboni, Lawrence Oshiegbu, Lulu Enaboifo, Ross Uredi and twenty three others.
The petition written by the elders of the All Progressive Party (APC) in the state was accompanied with supporting documents and bank details of some of the mentioned persons.
According to our EFCC source, the petition which was submitted in April 2020 was not acted on by the EFCC when the suspended Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu held sway. He was alleged to have sat on the petition. The petition is being looked into by the legal department of the Commission following a directive by the new Acting Chairman.
It was gathered that the EFCC is curious to know how a whooping sum of N150 million was used to buy a Lexus 570 armored car 2016 model in the same year for Gov. Okowa when the car is actually valued for N98 million in the year it was sold.
According to the petitioners, the governor had earlier wasted state funds on the 10th September 2015 to the tune of N254.1 million to buy himself two official cars, when the same cars were sold for N173 million in the same year, while his crony, Ross Uredi supplied at inflated rates vehicles worth N741 million for lawmakers in 2015 and N452. 7 million also paid to same Ross to buy cars for Commissioners in the same year.
Also listed in the petition is the sprawling seven storey state secretariat under construction by the state government, which the governor’s elder and junior sisters are the sole contractor, determining who gets things done in the place. The project which was initially valued for N13.6 billion has been jacked up to over N16 billion with all due process not followed.
In a document seen as submitted, the contractor of the job won the award based on nepotism as the state job is the biggest they have ever embarked on since they were formed.
One of the investigators disclosed that all those mentioned in the petition will soon be invited to the headquarters as soon as they are done with their fact findings.
