A bloody ethnic crisis is presently brewing among the ethnic nationalities in Delta State following the padding of the 2016 Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, (DESOPADEC) budget by the speaker of the State House of Assembly, Monday Igbuya, in connivance with Governor Ifeanyi Okowa and other lawmakers.
The governor, speaker, lawmakers, the commission's Managing Director, Williams Makinde, the Executive Director of Finance and Administration, Askia Ogieh, among others are also accused of hijacking multi-billion naira contracts to their private companies among other corrupt and fraudulent practices carried out in the commission's N28 billion controversial budget.
The controversial budget, which is said to have been held back by Mr. Okowa following its leakage to the public, had been hoarded from ethnic leaders and groups until two weeks ago when the document was leaked.
A top director in the commission from one of the marginalized ethnicities who confided in SaharaReporters said that if the issues are not speedily addressed, it will lead to a bloody ethnic crisis, adding that it took God's intervention for him to grab a copy of the yet to be signed budget and what he saw was more than the padding crisis consuming the Federal House of Representatives.
"Because of the leakage of the budget which is currently before Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, where all their secret atrocities were done, Okowa, out of annoyance, has refused to sign the budget. He's not happy with the speaker and others the way and manner the document was leaked. You will weep for Delta State if you see how these people are trading with our State.
"Come and see how Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, Speaker of Delta State House of Assembly, Mr. Monday Igbuya, Chairman, Delta State House of Assembly Committee on DESOPADEC and member representing Warri South Constituency II in the House, Mr. Dennis Omovie, and former Governor James Ibori's daughter who is the Chairwoman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Erhiatake Ibori, corruptly and fraudulently padded the budget for their personal interests and to the favor of the Urhobo ethnicity and to the detriment of other ethnicities.
"Unlike in previous budgets which never exceeded 13% of the entire budget of the commission, the 2016 DESOPADEC budget allocated 37% of its proposed expenditure as centralized, with Urhobo alone getting over 50% despite ranking lower than Itsekiri, Ijaw, Isoko and Ndokwa in terms of crude oil production quantum, a principle on which DESOPADEC was established by the Chief James Onanefe Ibori administration. The real concept behind the creation of the commission is no more.
"A situation where Governor Okowa is using his principal secretary, Mr. Hilary Ibegbulem, to grab billions of naira contracts to cronies and frontiers. A situation where the speaker, Mr. Monday Igbuya, will be grabbing mouth-watering contracts to his company, as well as the likes of other lawmakers, Mr. Micheal Diden, Mrs. Omawunmi Udoh, Mr. Dennis Omovie and Ibori's daughter, Erhiatake Ibori, each grabbing mouth-watering contracts, you need no prophet to tell you that Delta State is finished.
"Also in the budget, through the corrupt DESOPADEC MD, Mr. Makinde, a whopping sum of N350 million was allocated to James Ibori, private university, Western Delta University (WDU) at Oghara outside the quarterly N350 million being pumped into Ibori's Independent Newspapers. The Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Mr. Ogieh, in connivance with the MD, has almost a whopping N1 billion to buy Hilux and other vehicles for personal use. So you can see the corruption going on in our State," the director lamented.
Raising the alarm over the marginalization and shortchanging of Itsekiri nation in the yet to signed budget, the National Association of Itsekiri Graduates (NAIG) in a statement signed by its National President, Oritsetimeyin Collins Edema, and its PRO1, Sholuwa Solomon, rejected the budget, describing it as “a call for another ethnic crisis in Delta State and as such should be suspended.”
The Itsekiri graduates stressed that the budget does not reflect the interest of the Itsekiri ethnic nationality, neither does it reflect the oil production quantum of Itsekiri and expressed dissatisfaction over what they termed ignorance of the content of the 2016 DESOPADEC budget by the three Itsekiri lawmakers in the house namely, Daniel Mayuku, Omawumi Udoh and Michael Diden who allegedly partook in the padding and cornered contracts to themselves. "We want to warn that we will not tolerate a situation where DESOPADEC money from Itsekiri is now being used to fund a building project in Western Delta University, privately owned University."
On their part, the Ijaw oil and gas producing communities in Delta State, rejected the yet to be signed 2016 budget for the Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, DESOPADEC, citing perceived injustices and marginalization against them.
In a statement by Bishop Samson Amajene, President of Gbaramatu Kingdom, and his counterparts from four other Delta Ijaw kingdoms, the communities urged Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to review the budget by correcting the imbalance and injustice, which they said violated the law setting up the commission.
According to the communities, “Sadly, instead of addressing the lopsidedness against the Ijaw which produces 27 percent of oil and gas resources in the State, Governor Okowa kept a disturbing silence, allowing these elements in the commission and House of Assembly to carry out this marginalization unhindered.”
Condemning the commission's 2016 padded budget, the Founder and National President of the Isoko National Political Emancipation Movement (INPEM), Geoffrey Osiama, alleged that many of the capital projects were inflated and awarded to companies belonging to most of the board top members, House of Assembly members and the governor's cronies.
"It is a big shame that Governor Okowa can connive and allowed this corruption to take place. The Isokos are the most marginalized and shortchanged ethnic nationality in this Okowa administration and Okowa is not bothered. Our Isoko politicians too have connived with Okowa to inflict us with pains. I can tell you that the Itsekiris, Isokos, Ndokwa and Ijaw are set for war unless Okowa does something very urgent about the fraudulent budget," Mr. Osiama stated.
A member of the Isoko, Itsekiri and Ijaw high power delegation who met with Mr. Okowa a few days ago over the issue, confided in SaharaReporters that they have warned the governor against pulling a fast one on them to go ahead and sign the fraudulent budget. It would be recalled that sometime in April this year, the Delta State chapter of Host Communities of Nigeria Producing Oil and Gas (HOSTCOM) disrupted the State House of Assembly session over the 2016 budget of the commission.
Reacting to the allegations, the State Commissioner of Information, Patrick Ukah, who said he could only speak for the governor, debunked any involvement of Mr. Okowa in the padded budget controversy, adding that "the governor is never involved in the padding and as I talk to you the budget has not even been signed, it's still before the governor."
