A group, Delta Centre for Integrity and Good Governance has invited the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to investigate an alleged payment of $3 million by the State Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, to some senior officials of the Peoples Democratic Party as part of lobby efforts to clinch the party’s 2023 Vice President’s slot.
The group said in a statement issued and signed by Comrade Stanley Oshiovorie that the alleged $3 million “is the money of the Delta people being diverted for selfish political motives.”
Consequently, the group called on the EFCC to save the people of Delta State and recover the $3 million which it alleged was already being shared among the PDP leaders in the name of allocating the VP slot to the Delta State Governor.
“It is the Delta people’s money and it must be recovered. Instead of using our state money for development, they are using it for the highest bidder,” the statement said.
The group specifically alleged that the said $3 million was meant to influence key decision-makers, who the party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, and his team, may likely consult before arriving at a concrete and acceptable person.
According to the group, while $1 million of the alleged money was earmarked to lobby members of the inner circle of the party’s National Working Committee, the other $2 million was being projected to lobby northern elders.
The DCIGG’s statement read partly, “It is Delta people’s money and it must be recovered. Instead of using our state money for development, they are using it for the highest bidder.
“The money was part of the cash set aside by Okowa to be used for his earlier planned presidential ambition after he decided not to run for the Senate. Okowa recently boasted that only God can stop him from becoming Atiku’s running mate.”