Clark Criticises APC Govt, Says Okowa Wasted N1. 7trn  in Five Years

Emma Okonji and Nosa Alekhuogie

Elder Statesman and National Leader of the Ijaw people of Delta State, Chief Edwin Clark has criticised the past administration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) under the watch of former President Mohammadu Buhari as well as the Delta State government under  Senator Ifeanyi Okowa.

Clark said the Buhari’s administration plunged Nigeria into a more difficult situation, while Okowa could not account for the over N1. 7 trillion paid to the state by the federal government from 2017 to 2022.

He said the people of Niger Delta were suffering and it was an irony because they produced the largest chunk of oil in the country.

Clark, who spoke yesterday on the Morning Show of ARISE News Channel, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers, said the people of Delta State had become strangers in their home and poorer than what they were when their fore fathers were alive.

“I decided to employ a lawyer who went to the federal accountant general’s office to obtain the certified copy of all the amount of money paid to Delta State from 2007-December 2022. I got a letter from the Accountant General’s office listing everything. What was paid to Delta State came to one trillion, seven hundred and sixty something billion naira, but Okowa could not account for the money before leaving office,” Clark said.

He said based on the information he had about the financial misappropriation in the state, he had to write Okowa a second letter and copied the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“We cannot be cheated, governors are now wealthier than their states,” Clark added.

He accused Okowa of owning a bank and he also13 private companies which he said, the former governor cannot deny.

“Okowa embezzled the state’s money which was not accounted for in his annual budget,” he further said.

“Today, our schools are not well equipped, there are no teachers. We have no light or water, we have loads of fisher men but today, a large number of fish are dying and floating about, so we are left with frozen fish in our Niger Delta, which is an abomination. The roads are also nothing to write home about,” he lamented.

Fielding questions regarding the letter he wrote requesting to know how much money was spent in Delta state, he said it was important he asked the question about how monies were allocated and spent in the state.

He , however, said the answer they gave him was that they spent N5 billion in paying pensioners in the state which he said was questionable.