Delta Former Information Commissioner, Aniagwu, Tackles Clark

Chuks Okocha in Abuja

Immediate past Commissioner for Information in Delta State, Mr. Charles Aniagwu, has rebuffed accusations of misappropriation raised against former governor Ifeanyi Okowa by elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, saying that the former Senator was progressing in error in his assertions against the former governor.

Rebuffing the claims earlier made by Clark on Arise News Television, Aniagwu who appeared on the station’s The Morning Show, said that Clark was being used by political actors who lost out in the elections in Delta State, asserting that he was perhaps angry over the fact that the candidates he supported in the election lost.

Clark had in an Arise News programme on Wednesday charged Senator Okowa to among others account for N1.7 trillion reportedly received during his administration.

Besides, he also accused the former governor of betrayal in accepting to be running mate to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, against the agitation for a president from the South.

Responding to Clark, Aniagwu who served as Okowa’s Chief Press Secretary in his first term said, “In the case of the Delta State elder statesman, he progressed in error, and I wouldn’t know whether that means lying. The issues he put forth are not original to him. In the course of the election, he had his own candidate in the state election and we defeated that candidate. Perhaps the anger of his candidate losing is still possibly part of what is pulling his position.

“I will actually appeal that you come to Delta. When you come to Delta you will see the difference that Governor Okowa has been able to make in terms of infrastructure.”

On Clark’s claim of betrayal on the part of Okowa of the Southern governors, Aniagwu said, “He also talked about the issue of betrayal. He said that in Asaba that governors met and agreed that the presidency should come to the South. That is not true. You need to go and google it.

“When governors converged in Asaba, they discussed the issue of open grazing. It was in Lagos that governors and that time it was not even part of their agenda, it was an addendum introduced by the governor of Ondo State where they talked about whether they would like….

“So, when our elder statesman claims that they came to Asaba and that we deceived them it is not true. You know how the PDP threw their ticket open.”

Aniagwu observing why Okowa would not take Clark to court said, “So, we plead with the elder statesman, the respect we have for him we will not be in a hurry to withdraw it. If not for his age, I can bet you that my principal (Okowa) would have been in a position to proceed to court. But when you drag a 96-year-old man to court in Africa where there is a lot of sentiment, the public will turn and say, ‘why are you fighting an old man’.

“But we plead with him to leave those persons who are giving him those stories which are at variance with reality. The development in Delta is worth something we are very, very proud of. It is not about what I am saying on TV.

“You can come to Delta and see and you will wonder how Governor Okowa was able to put all these projects on ground. Anytime, any day we will be ready to face anybody and we will show you projects, point by point.

“Whether it is the state secretariat which is number one in the country or whether it is the different bridges or the technical colleges which we have built. We are the only state in this country that established three universities in one fell swoop and not only that we built three universities, we are funding them.

“We are the only state in this country where every other university in this country was on strike, ours never went that way.”