DIVERTED $10 MILLION SAGA: OKOWA, APC AND THE REST OF US

A major feature of last weekend was an insidious media report in The Nation newspaper to the effect that a governor in one of the oil rich states diverted $10 million bailout fund through his mistress. 

The report didn't identify who the Governor was but the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Delta State had fingered the state Governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa as the erring public officer. But the the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state had criticized the claim by the APC, dismissing it as unfounded and spurious. 

In this piece, Joshua Erubami comments on the hanging validity of the claims and urges citizens to undermine accusations that are not backed by verifiable facts. Read on...  

The social media and, indeed, all media outlets in Nigeria have been abuzz since last weekend after a diplomatically coated malicious report was floated by one of the respected national dailies in the country, The Nation Newspaper. In the said publication that was obviously targeted at ruffling some feathers in the political class and shaking the polity beyond measures, the journalist (whose identity still subsists in the oblivion) alleged that a whopping sum of $10 million was diverted by a governor of one of the oil rich states in Nigeria through one Georgina Onuoha who was said to the governor’s “mistress”.

For reasons that are still sketchy, the writer of that script failed (either deliberately or otherwise) to pinpoint the name of the governor entrapped in the diversion saga and also failed to give a vivid verbal personality description that could aid members of the general public in knowing who is looting their collective patrimony to their own detriment.

In all of its sorts, I honestly believe that is bad journalism!

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa 

Besides, ensuing events have seen a spree and extravaganza of accusations and counter accusations over who was actually being referred to in the said publication as well as how such a huge and economically frightening amount of money was siphoned or diverted (as it was termed) by just one person at the same time the country’s anti-corruption war is believed to be at its peak, economy seen to be plummeting and governments at all levels grappling with inadequate funding realities.

In one of the several lashes of indictment and finger pointing, some groups, particularly the opposition All Progressives Congress in Delta State fingered the incumbent state Governor, Senator (Dr) Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa as the specific personality entangled in the inglorious allotment of the said public funds, although the governor has since refuted the report. 

In a statement allegedly signed by the acting spokesman of the APC, Leonard Obi which was widely reported in different segments of the Nigerian media, the party called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to dismiss Governor Okowa’s denial and thoroughly scrutinize the state’s finances to ascertain the Governor’s level of alleged indictment in the diversion saga and sundry other corruption cases.

Read WHY PDP RAINED KNOCKS ON DELTA APC

But the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has, expectedly, described the allegation of the APC as “baseless, unfounded, tendentious, malicious and deliberately calculated to impugn the integrity of the Governor whose reputation as a God-fearing man, astute administrator and good manager of resources is well known and is driving fear into his enemies”, dismissing the claim as the dream of “a party that is filled with “renegades, dubious characters, opportunists and failed politicians”.

In a statement signed by the State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Ifeanyi Osuoza, the party argued that neither the media report nor the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFFC) identified Okowa as the indicted “Governor from one of the oil producing states in Nigeria”, insisting that “the APC is shamelessly dragging Okowa into what is at best a speculative story and, at worst, the job of paid hirelings, in a desperate bid to gain relevance”.

Well, that is for that as it concerns political tongue-lashing and the higgledy-piggledy of the ruling houses.

On the flip side of the ensuing debate, one cannot wholly contend that the APC, as an opposition  party in the state, is in a very good position to beam lights on the deeds of all other parties, including the PDP and sound alarms over confirmed (and valid) misdoings, particularly the misappropriation of public funds by government officials. In fact, failing to do so will only amount to the simple conclusion that the party is dead and literally inactive.

On the other hand however, it is a simple fact (if not the whole and nothing but the truth as a trial judge will make you swear in a law court) that any argument without verifiable proofs are inherently unmeritorious and any talk- no matter how alluring it could be- can never and will never be valid and reasonable if it is predicated on falsehood and doctored evidence. While constructive criticism remains a veritable advice that is freely offered to public officers, it is equally constructive to say that no criticism is worth the effort if it is done for the sake of criticism alone.

While it may not be my worries on why political parties get entangled with each other, the consistency of the APC at accusing the PDP led state governments in the country is quite baffling. It could be recalled that in one of the seemingly spurious claims by the APC, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state was, without proofs, accused of allegedly trying to divert the N9.6 billion bail-out cash offered by the Federal Government in the twilight of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to augment the payment of workers’ salaries which had lagged for several months. Rather than concentrate and offer credible advice to the Federal Government on the leeway out of the festering socio-economic hardship, the APC which consistently lays claims to change is preoccupying itself with the task of heating up the polity in virtually all PDP controlled states; an act some people see as an “unpaid duty”.

Also read I'LL DIE AS A POLITICIAN, IBORI BOASTS

In the claims by the opposition APC in the state, one is perennially tempted to wonder if Governor Okowa has become the only Chief Executive of an oil rich state in the whole of Nigeria, since the report was not directly lashed on him. Besides, the EFCC, the highest body saddled with the handling of kleptomaniac charges could not officially drag the Governor into the diversion scandal, why then does the APC cry over what may not exist?

Besides, one could easily wondered how the allegedly diverted $10 million bailout fund was coughed out from since State Governments do not receive dollars from the Federal Government either through FAAC allocation or bail-out funds. If the claim is anything to go by since it claimed that the money has been traced to a particular bank account, simple questions that readily come to mind are: how was the said fund diverted?  Was it by wire transfer, through the borders or how?

Should the APC really intend to lucify the idiosyncrasies woven around the tongue-wagging $10 million booty, then it must go beyond the political razzmatazz of pontificating the ills of its opponents, it must strive to shed light on their perceived inadequacies and give the masses the liberty of passing judgment. 

With a particular reference to the issue at hand, the APC must reminisce on and actually provide details on how such a huge amount of money sauntered out of the country’s borders into the United States without triggering the red flag at both the Financial Intelligence Units in Nigeria and the United States of America, since both units receive, analyse and distribute financial intelligence gathered from Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) on per seconds basis.

Also read TWISTS AND RIPPLES IN THE IBORI/UDUAGHAN TALKS

Besides, the party which controls activities at the apex government should make deliberate efforts to explain why the Federal Government had to pay the state in dollars instead of the official naira currency of the country. Until the party is able to give answers to these questions and until Deltans are giving valid grounds to believe and accept the claims of the APC, the party should join in the task of developing the state instead of deliberately making efforts to distract the sitting Governor.

Nonetheless, I am greatly pained that the rest of us (the general public) outside the PDP-APC dictum, are being made to either accept wholesale white lie or reject the black truth without actually knowing which side of the tug we fall at. Our ears and eyes have become the dump site of various claims, while we only succeed at taking to social media platforms to launch complaints without actually acting. That is the sorry state we find ourselves.

A simple advice is, in the stead of attracting aches to ourselves over imagined issues, Nigerians, particularly Deltans should be wary of acts that stir up the polity of the state in a manner that is unnecessary and baseless.